Smile at the Storm

Does anyone remember the little children’s chorus, 

With Christ In My Vessel?

With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm,

Smile at the storm, smile at the storm.

With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm

Until He takes me home

Sailing, sailing home, sailing, sailing home

With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm

Until He takes me home

Did you ever take notice of the words. Smile at the storm. Smile. At the storm. Yes, it literally says smile. Often we sing this little chorus, happily performing the actions along with the song, stretching our mouths with our fingers into a smile (is that because we can’t make a real smile?) and riding the storm with our hands in the shape of a boat.

But, it really struck me recently, that the song encourages us to smile at the storm. It doesn’t say, be fearful, fret, worry, get depressed, be anxious. No. It says smile.

How many times do I find myself going through one of life’s storms with a smile on my face? Not very often I have to admit. Okay, so if you stand me on my head, it might look like a smile. But, no, it’s often a frown. A creased forehead from worry, the corners of my mouth turned down, my bottom lip dragging.

The key to the smile is who is in the vessel with us. Christ. With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm. When we have Christ in our lives, walking beside us each step of the way, leading us through stormy times, we can have that smile. Not a fake smile, not a forced smile, but a real smile! A heart of peace and true joy. Don’t confuse joy with happiness. They’re not the same thing. True joy comes from within. It comes from the hope we have in Christ.

We can smile because we’re on our way home. Sailing home to the place the Lord has prepared for us, where we will live with Him forever, worshipping at His feet, praising Him all day, every day. We have an eternal home. We have a home ahead to look forward to.

The storms we face here on this earth are only temporary. Eventually the calm comes. Often in the Bible we read, “And it came to pass…” usually meaning, ‘and then this happened’. But I like to think of this phrase as I’ve heard others refer to it, “It came to pass, it didn’t come to stay”. Things come to pass in our lives, but they don’t come to stay. God brings us through the trial, testing our faith, shaping and molding us and then He takes the storm away and moves forward.

Sometimes it feels as if we are hit by one storm after the other. Never getting any relief. But the Devil would have us focus our attention on our circumstances, on the rising winds around us. He doesn’t want us to trust in the Lord. He wants us to blame the Lord for our problems and give up on our faith. He NEVER wants us to smile at the storm.

This verse keeps coming to my attention as I read through my Bible, or as I’m listening to a sermon and I don’t seem to be able to get away from it.

2 Corinthians 4:8

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

I think the Lord is trying to remind me that I can be troubled, I can be confused, but I don’t need to be distressed or in despair. He is in control. There were many storms in the Apostle Paul’s life, and yet he could say with confidence, ‘I am not distressed or in despair’.

James tells us to count our trials and testings as joy.

James 1:2-3

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

I love how in the book of Mark we read of the great storm that arose on the sea as the disciples were sailing across, and we find the Lord Jesus asleep in the boat.

Mark 4:37-38

  And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow…..

That’s right. Asleep. The storm was raging all around Him, the waves so high that the water was in the boat with them, and we find the Lord asleep. During the storm. Not AFTER the storm. DURING.

That’s how God would have us be. Asleep in the storm. I don’t mean physically asleep. I know that would be nice, to be able to just sleep right through the trial and wake up to find everything okay again. But no. Asleep. As in, at peace. Resting in peace, knowing that God is at work and directing the way the storm manifests itself. Being able to smile at the storm, with true joy in our hearts.

I love this verse in Psalms.

Psalm 4:8

 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

The storm you may be facing right now is there to make you stronger. To help you to grow. To purify you. And often, God sends a storm of affliction into your life so that you may be able to help someone along the way that will go through the exact same thing and will need someone who has walked that path before them to help them through their storm. Encouraging them with Words of Scripture and relating your own personal experience so that you can be a comfort to them in their time of need.

Smiling at the storm is not an easy thing to do. But it is a choice. And we can choose to smile or to frown. We choose how we respond to each of the storms in our lives. We choose whether we want to bring glory to God’s name by our response or whether we want to tarnish our testimony and drag God’s name through the mud by our lack of faith.

Storms really can make or break us. It’s up to us. God is still faithful, never changing. Always present. Never forsaking us. The smile on our face is decided by the peace in our hearts. And that peace is determined by how much we are trusting in the Lord. Trust requires faith. It requires us to let go. To step out into an unknown future and trust our lives to a known God.

How much do you know God? Do you know Him well enough to know you can trust Him? Through every storm that He sends your way? Do you know Him enough to trust Him fully? Do you know Him enough to be able to smile at the storm and sail home in His boat of protection and love?

Smile at the storm, until He takes you home.