Withstanding the Winds of Change by Lisa Burkhardt Worley

The beach is always my happy place but this time when we arrived in Northern Florida, there was a strong wind, gusting up to over thirty miles per hour. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the flag on the flag pole fully extended, violently whipping back and forth.

But I was at the beach, and I was there to enjoy it, so I braved the elements and set up camp shoreside. What I discovered is that it was not restful, like normal. The sand pelted my face and when I tried to read a book, it was difficult to keep my place because the gusts would turn the pages. I lasted about an hour at the beach.

I asked locals, “Is this normal for Perdido Key Beach?” They responded, “No, this is highly unusual. I don’t ever remember the wind being this bad.”

So I had hope that the next day would be better, but the wind kept howling for several more days, and what was usually a place to unwind became a battle to even stand upright because at times the wind threatened to push me over.

What occurred to me is that this wind is symbolic of the times we are living in. Strong winds of hate. Winds of evil. Fierce winds of war. In Isaiah 5:20, the Bible prophesies that evil will be called good, and good evil. I feel we are seeing this in our times.

When I returned from the beach, someone messaged us on our Pearls of Promise Ministries page and threatened to file a lawsuit if our POP Talk television show ever aired on his page again. In order to get maximum coverage we “boost” each show by about $20 so we can reach more people. This man blasphemed Jesus and cursed at me. The image he used for his Facebook page looked evil. I thought, God prepared me for this wind of hate.

Here’s the good news.

We’re not the ones who can calm the winds. Only Jesus can do that. When a violent wind whipped up on the Sea of Galilee and the disciples were frightened, Jesus rebuked the elements and said, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm” (Mark 4:39, NIV). The disciples, still terrified, said, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:41, NIV).

The wind did finally die down at Perdido Key Beach the last couple of days of the getaway, but only after I prayed fervently for the LORD to calm the winds. After a few days with my husband at the beach, my good friend and prayer partner, Donna, was arriving and I knew she would be disappointed with the weather conditions.

But I believed the weather scenario carried a message. In these last days, we need to cling to our faith as the opposition will get stronger. It will take prayer and Jesus’s intervention to withstand the winds of change.