Facing The Wind
By Reverend Bernyce H. Clausell
Posted: 4:49p.m .est, October 08, 2006

The Reverend Clausell is truly a minister that has put christian principles into action by feeding the poor and visiting the sick. She doesn't take her prison ministry lightly; Reverend Clausell, her daughter Aaronetta and the Hosto family have been traveling to Raiford and Pensacola, Florida for the past 22 years. II Corinthians 4:17 "…affliction…worketh for us…"Psalm 55:8 "I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest."

II Corinthians 4:17 "…affliction…worketh for us…"Psalm 55:8 "I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest."

 

There is a poem I learned in school many years ago (when we had to memorize poetry) it starts like this: "Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you. But when the leaves hang trembling, The wind is passing through." Wind can be treacherous, destructive or it can be cooling and soothing. Depends on what kind of wind it is and where its coming from.

 

Some years ago parts of Alabama and Florida faced a destructive hurricane wind that tore down houses, stores, wrecked cars, uprooted trees, and destroyed animals.

Way back in the year 1936, my Aunt Sallie who lived in Miami visited us in New York and told us of a breathtaking experience they had just come through. She said the winds were howling, the storm was raging, but she and her family faced it. They faced it on their knees praying to God to save them. She said they prayed all night long.

As daylight came, she said, the winds abated, the elements ceased the downpour. She carefully opened the door and looked out. To her great amazement - everything was gone. Nothing was standing - only their house. Their house was standing all alone. To God be the Glory. They faced the wind on their knees.

Do you not know that it's a hard thing to do - to FACE THE WIND? If the wind is at your back, it blows you forward, but when you're facing it - it pushes you back. There is an Irish blessing that says, "May the wind always be at your back."

But let us think now of the winds of life - the vicissitudes and trials, the troubles, the knockdowns, the hard knocks of life. We style them as winds.

 

You know, sometimes we feel that the winds of life are blowing against us; but they're really blowing for us and with us. But we have to be patient and let God's plan unfold. You might think that trouble you're having is a destructive wind, but in the end you will find it was just a cooling wind - A wind to get you settled down and think of God and how good He is to you. Paul says in II Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, (which is but for a moment) worketh for us.

 

Look at the story of Joseph. It took years for this story to come to its beautiful fulfillment. They took Joseph from Jacob and sold him and told Jacob a lie that Joseph was dead. Then they told Jacob that the ruler in Egypt wanted the youngest, Benjamin, to come to Egypt -- Poor old Jacob was heartbroken. He declared sadly "All these things are against me." Genesis 42:36

 

Oh, how mistaken he was. This was God's way of preserving him and his family from the perils of the famine.

 

When Joseph's brothers sold him to the Midianite band, they did it for evil. BUT GOD HAD EVERYTHING IN HAND. He was going to fix it so that those very brothers would be coming to Joseph, who would be head of Egypt, second only to Pharoah - and they would beg him for bread. That story shows affliction working for Joseph.

 

Someone has said that a Christian is like a kite. Only if they they have flown against the wind can one rise. You've got to let the kite face the wind.

 

An article I read said that the difference in the musical tone of a violin depends mostly on the quality of wood it is made of. The best violin maker in the world cannot make a good instrument from poor material.

 

There was a famous violinist who never bought a violin. He always made his own. That seems strange, doesn't it? But he wanted to choose a certain kind of wood, a special kind. He never went to the forest where one would think he would go - where there were plenty of trees. Where do you suppose he went? He went to the MOUNTAINS.

 

There at the top of a cliff exposed to all the storms that would hit the mountain is were he obtained his trees for his wood to make his masterpiece violins.

 

He knew that the severe weather conditions that these trees faced had toughened the wood and produced a quality of grain and resiliency that could be developed in no other way.

You know what! - HE USED ONLY THE WOOD FROM THE SIDE OF THE TREE THAT WAS FACING THE WIND! From that wood, he could make the most musical violins that would render a most heavenly sound.

Thus, too by the winds and storms of trouble and adversity, does our loving Father prepare us that our lives will give out music from heaven. God can use those who have been toughened because toughening makes you tender. Queer, isn't it?

"Affliction worketh for us."
The storms of life give us strength.
The storms of life give us character and fortitude.

 

We may not understand why we must go through these perilous times. But listen to David in Psalm 34:l9. He said Many are the afflictions of the righteous - BUT the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He also said in Psalm l16:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.

And he said "I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest."

He said if I had wings like a dove. I would fly away and be at rest.

 

But then. he came to his better self and said, I'm just going to face it - face the wind and trust in God.

 

Don't try to hasten your escape from the windy storm and tempest. The storm is working for you.

 

Just say like David, Oh God, my heart is fixed.

 

When you come through, you will be as pure gold. Winds have a way of blowing themselves out. So just hold out til tomorrow - everything will be all right.