A Firm Foundation

"The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."- Matthew 7:25

Life change is stressful. I have recently had conversations with three different people going through significant life changes and stress.

One is struggling to make house payments and car payments due to his work "drying up" for the past five months. He isn't sure how he is going to make it.

Another is moving across the country due to their office making cutbacks. They had to choose between keeping their job and moving or losing their job and staying. It was a difficult decision, but they chose to move and leave their family and friends behind.

The third found out they were pregnant, but they're alone. How are they going to raise a child on their own? How will they know if the father will be present or disappear? It's a challenge and her world has been flipped upside down.

We have all had life changers like this, haven't we? Someone passed away suddenly, a surprise job loss, a car breaks down, a medical expense, and the list can go on and on. No matter what the experience, the same effect occurs, we get shaken up and our natural human reaction is to stress and/or start to question God.

We may sit for an answer, wondering when He will speak clearly and show us something. Yet, He already has. In Matthew 7, Jesus closes out His sermon on the mount and tells His followers what they need to do to avoid being shaken: Plant yourself firmly upon His Word.

When our faith is in our vehicle, money, job(s), individuals, etc. our foundation is weak. All of those items fade away and drift off into the sunset with our life. Some may end sooner than others, but Christ calls His creation to go to the rock!

The rock is where we need to plant our feet. Our hope, faith, trust and life should be built upon that rock that can never be shaken. When our life is hit by the storms, the trials, or the struggles that we are not ready for, we have a God who is never surprised.

He keeps us grounded. He holds firm to us. He will provide the strength needed to weather the storm we face. The sand in life is money, jobs, cars, people, but the rock is the One Who made us all! He waits for His creation to build their life on Him and not material things!

His plan for our lives is bigger than we can imagine and He wants us to get involved with it. If we get distracted by the things that die with us in the trial, we may miss the One who is trying to give us life through our struggle.

Hard times will come and hard times will go, but the peace of Christ will never fade. This is how we should move in life recognizing He has a plan that we we are involved in, but we need to trust Him, have faith in His work, and allow Him to move. That is what it means to be planted on a firm foundation.