Staying Calm in the Midst of the Storm -By Seun Elere

Nothing kills like anxiety. Anxiety can easily lead to depression. Anxiety and worry are two heavy but unnecessary burden that many of us bear. One of my teachers once told us many years ago that most often than not, accidents occur as a result of fear and many people die in accidents because they became anxious (they panicked). The very first thing I learnt about driving a car is staying calm when you have a tyre blow-out when driving. Staying calm even in the midst of choas saves life.

Naturally, every human being loves being in control. We want to have things under control, we want to be in control of our lives and when things dont happen the way we planned, we get overly anxious and frustrated. Many of us lack the mental preparedness to accept that part of being alive is enjoying the ups and the down of life. We mostly don’t believe that challenges must come and our journey in life will not always be in a straight line. Life is like going through college, you must complete the required cost units in year 1 to move to year 2. Challenges must come if we must grow and the higher we grow, the bigger the challenges.

Christ never promised us a life without challenges as a matter of fact he warned us ahead of time:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NIV

Having fore knowledge of what is to come, gets you prepared and sets you free from fear. This is why Jesus said: “I have told you these things, so that you may have peace…”Affliction would come but God has already prepared a way out and overcoming affliction depends largely on whether you believe what He has said or not. Our problem is not the challenges we face but what we do in times of challenge. For instance, some people commit suicide when they face difficult situation because they couldn’t see the way out. Many develop high blood pressure or slip into depression during trials. Christ had already prepared us for this and He clearly said He had defeated those challenges. Your problem is as big as you think it is.

The disciples were at sea with Jesus on board and they were faced with a very heavy storm which tore their boat in half and threatened their survival. Alas! They were all going to drawn and they were all freaked out, shouting and wailing about it. In the midst of all these, Jesus was sleeping peacefully. They came to Him and was shocked that He could be sleeping in the face of death and they said to Him: ‘common get up, how could you be sleeping at this time, don’t you care if we perish?’. He must have laughed and calmly got up and said to the sea ‘be still’. He then turned to them and said: ‘why were you all afraid or anxious? Don’t you believe that I have this under control?’. Mark 4:35-41. Holding unto God’s promises keeps you calm in the midst of the storm.

Similarly, in Acts 27 we saw another demonstration of calmness in the midst of the storm. Paul was being transported to Italy by sea and they ran into a very deadly storm so much so that they had to throw everything they had into the sea to lighten the ship with the hope of saving it and their lives but in the midst of the chaos and storm, Paul got up and say: ‘common guys, you should have listened to me but not to worry, we would loose a great deal of our belongings, even the ship would go for it but none of us will die in this storm’ Acts 27: 22-23. You are probably going through hard time and it seems the storm would swallow you up but remain calm and be of good cheers, God’s got you. You won’t sink with the ship.

Nobody gets out of a problem by wearing it on the face. Trusting in the assurances of God’s promises is a sure way out of any problem. Arm yourself with the word of God and sail through the storm as if it never happened. Remember that you can’t have everything figured out at all times, there would certainly be times when the road would be narrow and curve but having the fore knowledge that we were made to dominate all challenges brings peace and calmness in the face of calamity. No worrior can be made without wars.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10. Just be still. It doesn’t matter if you brought the mess upon yourself, just be still. Christ didn’t die for us because we were perfect, He died to make us perfect through His blood. They said you will never have a child, be still and trust in God. They said you only have a few days to live, just be still and trust in God. You are in a financial mess, just be still and trust in God. No matter what you might be going through right now, just be calm and watch God make a show of that situation. It may be beyond your reach, beyond your control but it’s never beyond God.

Stay calm, the storm would surely pass.