Thinking while driving

I'm way more in to this blogging thing then I ever thought I would be. I guess there have been so many concepts and thoughts running through my head for the last few years that it is nice to have a place to write them all down.
Anyways...have you ever heard the song "Jesus Bring the Rain" By Mercy Me? Well, they sure do know what they are talking about! The lyrics go like that:

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

In everything that I have been through in the last few years this is the song that I think sums it up the best. There have been times when people ask me "How can you still be faithful?" and I didn't have a response but in the end the words to this song sum up my heart. How do people walk away from God when He truly is the only shelter from the storm?  Do they genuinely feel that running further into the storm will help them feel better then standing under the protection of God. Jesus never said we wouldn't go through pain. I mean in James 1 He says "Consider it PURE JOY my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds" Pure joy James? REALLY?! But it is so true. It hurts and it stretches and it is the worst feeling ever while going through it but when we find the shelter from our Lord and stand under it allowing Him to be our strength then we come out on the other side of the storm dry. It doesn't mean we won't have mud stuck to our shoes but we endured it for a reason that is far more worth it then clean shoes. I mean did I ever think running into the storm farther would feel better? Why yes I did because the human mind is always going to ask the question "if you are God then why are you allowing you child to go through this?" This is such an emotional question and honestly it doesn't even make sense. I mean can we please look at what Jesus did for us on the cross? HE DIED THE WORST DEATH EVER...all for our sake. If we just trust and obey his call to be faithful then we learn far more then we ever thought our brains could hold about His loving kindness and mercy and we know that we are not in it alone. It is amazing how true it is the next few verses are "because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." The testing of our faith produces perseverance and perseverance makes us mature. This could not be more true. There are so many things that I can look back and think "if i only knew then what i know now then life would have been so much simpler" but God gives us our life in steps for a reason. Each stepping stone is leading the next and the next and the next but if we skip one along the way then we end up falling five steps behind while trying to figure out how to get to this one step that doesn't make since. anyways...i probably am not making any sense but i was thinking about this while driving home tonight and thought i would try and capture my thoughts which i have so often failed at doing and then can't remember what i was thinking 5 minutes later. Hopefully someone will read this and make sense of it all. if not then hopefully i can read it in five years and make sense of it to myself. haha. I just hope that in the end i can say Jesus bring the rain, bring me ANYTHING that brings you glory! and I know there will be days when this life brings me pain but IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO PRAISE YOU JESUS BRING THE RAIN!!!!!!!!