Smiling At The Storm

This line struck me as we sang it during a funeral over the weekend.

With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm.

Smiling at the storm.
Really?? Who does that?

Smiling.
It’s a universal sign of positive feeling. It transcends language barriers to communicate warmth and connection.
A smile can convey a range of sentiments, from affection to friendliness, and even sometimes irony or scorn. 🤔
So not every smile directed at you may be well meaning. 🤔

A storm.
A storm is a significant violent disturbance in the earths atmosphere characterized by disruptive weather phenomena – mostly strong winds and precipitation like rain, snow or hail.

So why in the world would anyone smile at a storm? I mean really??

And the answer is right there in the preceding line – “With Christ in the vessel”
Christ!
Indeed, Jesus is the answer for the world today, above Him there’s no other, Jesus is the Way! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

A vessel is basically something that holds or transports.
We are the vessels.
Christ in us; the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)
Have we given Him the throne in our hearts and lives?

I believe that knowing we have the Name above all Names in our vessel is a great comfort. No matter how bad things may get, we know He is with us.
He is more than able to quiet the storm if He so wishes. And if He doesn’t, we know He’ll gives us the grace to make it through the storm.

Let’s see what I found online.
•⁠ ⁠Storms are faith building expeditions.
•⁠ ⁠We will go through storms in life – it’s a guarantee. When you’re going through a storm, you must examine your heart before God. Sometimes these storms may be a direct result of sin; if so, we must repent. Following Jesus is not immunity from the storms of life.
•⁠ ⁠When in a storm, the best thing is to cry out to Jesus. Before Jesus calms the storm, He wants to calm the storm in your heart. He wants to address our heart problem – the fear in our hearts. (Philippians 4:6,7)
•⁠ ⁠The storms obey when Jesus whispers, “Peace, be still.”
•⁠ ⁠Jesus doesn’t always physically calm the storms in our lives; instead He provides inner peace and the strength to endure them.

My brother, my sister, life is hard, life is short, life is full of mountains and valleys, highs and lows, but in all this, as believers, our assurance is that God is with us.

Isaiah 43:2 NIV –

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

This Sunday school song comes to mind:
With Christ in the vessel, I will smile at the storm
Smile at the storm , smile at the storm.
With Christ in the vessel , I will smile at the storm
Until He leads me home,…

With Christ in the vessel, let’s smile at the storms.
God dey and once we put our trust in Him and surrender fully to Him, we’ll make it through.

Amen and amen!

God bless you!
😊🙏🏽