Under the Umbrella (blog)

At all times, and especially in the dark storms of life, we need to stay close to our Lord Jesus Christ. I like to think of it as staying under His umbrella. My teenage daughters and I sometimes try to walk together in the rain under one small umbrella (mine, because they neglected to remember theirs). It must be a sight to see, as we all inch along trying not to trip over each other while at the same time trying to keep up with the moving cover. When life gets dark and stormy, and you feel scared and uncertain, it's important to stay really close to The Lord where there is cover  (light, security, peace, love, the promise of deliverance...). It's about trusting that He is with you where you are, and keeping your focus on Him so that you can stay where He is. No looking ahead or behind right now! Sometimes it's not even advisable to look around too much. Just trust that He is leading you, by the power of His Holy Spirit, and that He knows where He is going. Your job is to stay close to Him, under His protective cover, and to follow where He leads. Recently I talked with one of our SHLC elders, and then with Pastor Dan, about some things I have been struggling with. It really helped to let someone, in Christ, care for me with encouragement from God's Word and with prayer. That's one way of staying under the umbrella. Another way is to spend some time on your own in prayer and in God's Word. When you feel confused or angry, or weak in your faith, you can confess these to God and ask for His forgiveness. Pastor Dan has assured me that it is ok to be honest with God about how we truly feel. Just being in Sunday worship helps!  Jesus reassures us of His love and forgiveness, and of our salvation in Him, every time we come to His table for Communion. That's a kind of coming under His cover too. We can enjoy Christian fellowship. I don't know about you, but when things get dark in my life I often experience doubts which can make me feel guilty or ashamed.  In those dark times I tend to focus on my faults and failures, and on my sin. Sometimes I find myself avoiding my family in Christ, or even Jesus Himself, so that I can hide what I'm feeling. But this is never a good thing, because it's stepping outside of the umbrella into the cold and the rain. That's just where the evil one wants us, out there away from God, and from everyone and everything else that can help us. If you stay out there too long, the devil will try to make you believe that you belong out there. Jesus Christ, the light of the world, welcomes us to take cover under Him! On The Cross, with His innocent suffering and death for our sins and in His glorious Resurrection, Jesus earned that place with Him, for all eternity, for us and for all people. By grace, through faith in Him, we can come in under His big, roomy umbrella of hope. He rescues us from the storms, and from all our doubts, and He will come again to take us to be with Him forever.