I’ve noticed something, and come to believe it, and it’s proving quite powerful and helpful in those hard seasons that we all go through–the season of “The Perfect Storm”.

You know the image, you’ve been there, you might be in such a season now! The Perfect Storm is a time when diverse and major circumstances and challenges all arrive at the same time, generating a swirling mass of demands and stress that seek to crush you and sweep you away. It’s when real difficulties are emerging at the same time in some combination of the major area of our lives, including our vocations and jobs, family life, personal life, in the realm of our finances or simple practicalities of every day living. It’s a time that generates that old saying, “When it rains, it pours”. It’s a time when you find yourself asking, “My goodness, what else could go wrong?” or “What’s going to blow up next?”. And shortly those questions get answered!

These times, and we all go through them, lead you to think, “Wow, I couldn’t have made this any worse if I tried to design it myself!” And it’s true. Not only would you not want to, you actually couldn’t.

I recently went through such a season, when a host of demands and complexities was proving just too much to manage. Some of the areas that were proving thorny were a result of much good work to do in these days, some of those areas were deep and important, and a couple were just stupid, but impactful nonetheless.

You’ve been there. We might think in these seasons that God is somehow more distant or even absent, or that something is wrong. Actually, something may be very right.

As I was working my way through my most recent storm, trying to get it all done while the winds kept howling and picked up speed, the thought occurred to me, “You know, this actually feels familiar…I’ve been here before. And now looking back, those were exactly the times when I had to rely on God in a conscientious way that became actually pretty sweet, and I grew. And on the other side of the storm, his faithfulness in the midst of it all was actually amazing.” It dawned on me that in in the season of The Perfect Storm, God is actually more present, and wants to use and redeem those circumstances in a way that deepens our intimacy with him and leads to more Christlikeness in us. It dawned on me (as it had before but I’d forgotten) that of course this season is not simply one to be endured til it blows over, but actually is a very present invitation to go once again as deep into God as I can. Once I did that, while the circumstances took a while to resolve, wow did I have a lot more peace going through them.

Here comes a favorite Coracle tie-in–the disciples in a boat with Jesus when a storm kicks up. There are several of these stories in the Gospels, and the one that comes to mind is in Matthew 8.23-27. In this one, Jesus is asleep in the boat. He is absolutely not absent, and actually very near. The disciples were actually never in danger, though they were scared out of their wits. When they relied on him, they got to see his power and his glory. The storm drove them to reliance, and they got to see something that they hadn’t learned yet. And of course the storm was silenced.

I bet when the disciples looked back on that experience, while they might not want to through it again, they were sure glad that on that particular night the sea wasn’t calm and beautiful and easy. Think of what miracle they would have missed.

So when life throws you a Perfect Storm, and it will, ask “Lord, what do you have for me in this?” and lean in even more deeply to him.