So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:18
These seashells sit outside my the door of my house. They have been there since the day I moved in, not sure how long they were there before that. To say the least, they are out of place.
To properly align the picture you have to realize I do not live in a beachfront villa on the coast. At least not yet. I lived in the heart of horse country. My humble home is tucked back in the Bluegrass state of Kentucky, a far distance from the nearest shoreline. Which deduction teaches, someone else left those shells there.
Shells are not natural to the landscape of my house and sometimes to our life. We often much like shells feel out of place. Our life, our dreams, our passions do not fit the landscape of the land where we are living.
The journey of this shell is untold, but can be assumed. At some point this piece of ocean landscape was the home for something living. It housed life. It sheltered and protected from enemies out to destroy what was inside. It was a shelter from storms that raged all around.
And at some point the life inside that shell was lost.
I have seen the promises of God too often like that shell. The promise was filled with life, the promise was filled with, well, promise and hope. Life with it’s storms and circumstances often feel like it has killed the promises of God.
Then God showed me the story differently. If what is inside this shell never died, it remains hidden in the depth of the ocean. If the life that was in the shell remained alive, it never reaches the shore. If it never reaches the shore, it never reaches my front yard.
It is the storms that raged that washed what was unseen to the shore to be seen.
Often we begrudge life’s storms. We see them simply as obstacles to . But when we realign our perspective, it God may be washing ashore promises that had been hidden before the storm started. That shell, much like God’s promise, was hidden until at just the right moment the storms of life washed ashore for you to pick up.
So maybe the storm is not out to destroy you, but simply meant to wash God’s promises for your life ashore. Instead of simply seeing storms, maybe we need to see shells.
Where have the storms of life revealed God’s promises for you?
