"Lord! My life was not supposed to go this way! I had it all planned out, and you're ruining it. Throwing me all these curve balls and obstacles. I didn't plan on having all this rain down on me! What are you doing?? Did I do something wrong? I go to church...I pray...I read my Bible...I even volunteer and help other people in your name! Why are you allowing this to happen to me? WHY?!?!"

Have you ever caught yourself talking to God like to person in the paragraph above? You may have not said those exact words, but maybe something similar to it. Everything was just going one way, you were out enjoying the sun light and all off a sudden...BAM! it starts storming.

I believe that just like there are different storms in the weather, their are different storms in life.
You can usually put life's storms into about 3 categories. I call them:

Hurricane type storms
Tornado type storms
Sudden Storms

First. Hurricane type storms,
In weather, hurricanes are the storms that can be tracked. Thanks to the National Hurricane Center, we can track hurricanes days before there is any threat of it making land fall. We can know the approximate time and place of impact and the approximate wind speeds. We have plenty of time to prepare. To stock up on equipment and food. Or in severe cases, to plan an escape out of the path.
Just like hurricanes, we can see some of the storms of life coming and we can prepare for them.

Second. Tornado type storms,
Tornadoes aren't as easy to track as hurricanes are. We can see areas with favorable conditions and set out a "watch" and one may happen and one may never happen. You can chose to prepare or wait until a warning is issued (which means one has already been spotted....) By that time you can still grab a few supplies and make a quick plan, but not nearly as thoroughly as you can with a hurricane.

Third. Sudden storms,
I actually experienced one of these today. I was outside on the playground and felt a few drops of rain, one clap of thunder, then next thing you know it is POURING sideways, lightening, thundering and carrying on. Hail was falling (some the size of quarter!) And i had absolutely no way to prepare for it. The only thing I could do was duck and run for cover.

I say all this to say. Storms of life can come in all different forms, and we may not always be able to prepare for them like we would like too. Sometimes they just pop up out of no where when we are least expecting it, and in the most in-opportune times. Sometimes we even see the storms falling hard on others around us and think to ourselves, "That would never happen to me." So when it finally does happen to us we have 2 choices...

We can chose to look up at the sky and shake our fists at God and in anger curse His name, shouting "It wasn't supposed to be this way!"

OR...

We could chose to look up at the sky, lift our hands towards Heaven and calmy and humbly say "Lord, I don't know what you are doing...but I know that you are the One who controls the trails in my life, you can calm the storm just speaking. You said in Your Word that you wouldn't give me more than I can handle, and I believe that to be true."

It's through storms we become stronger and more mature in our faith.

So in the sunshine PRAISE HIM, and in storms PRAISE HIM

God has a purpose for evey storm He throws our way, and it will always work out exactly according to HIS will and for HIS glory.

A few song that kept playing in my head while typing tonight include: Praise You in This Storm (Casting Crowns), Bring the Rain (Mercy Me), and Sometimes He Calms the Storm (Scott Krippayne)
Go ahead and click on the songs and give them a listen :)

If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

Mark 4:39-41 (HCSB)

He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then He said to them, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?” And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!