My Sure and Steady Anchor in this Storm

The storm swirls around me. Dark clouds cover the horizon. Like waves crashing over my head, one thing after another pounds against me, threatening to knock me down and pull me under. The storm of this last year has continued into this year – it surrounds me, and there is no end in sight, so what am I clinging to?

This last year, and even moving into this year has many times felt like this. Sometimes I felt like Job at the beginning of the book of Job, when messenger after messenger brings him more and more and more bad news. It has not felt this way just for me, but for those around me. Many days the sorrow, hurt, pain, and yes, depression and discouragement threatened to pull me under and sweep me away. So overwhelming at times, I was not sure how I was going to hang on – how we as a family would make it.

This last year, in many ways, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was a year full of doubts, questions, sorrow, and frustration. I found myself powerless to stop the attacks I and those surrounding me were facing. So many days I cried out in sorrow and despair. It seemed like our family was holding on for dear life. As I have talked and counseled with others, I discovered many felt the same way.

I would find myself drifting from thing to thing – many days, simply feeling lost and unsure of the path before me. Like a ship being tossed to and fro on the sea of life. One Sunday, sitting in church, I just felt numb. I could not even participate in the worship, because for me, it was just too painful, and so hard to see Him in the midst of everything happening.

As I sat and listened, a song I never heard was shared. As I listened to the first verse, tears streamed down my face:

Christ the sure and steady anchor,

In the fury of the storm,

When the winds of doubt blow through me,

And my sails have all been torn,

In the suffering, in the sorrow,

When my sinking hopes are few;

I will hold fast to the anchor,

It shall never be removed.

I have never had something so clearly and perfectly speak to my state. Doubt was blowing through me, and I felt like there was no wind in my sails. Full of sorrow and suffering, I honestly had few hopes. As a line later in the song says, “and it seems the night has won.” That was EXACTLY what things felt like.

The tears I was sheading, though, were not only sorrow for my situation. Mixed with those tears, were tears of peace, grace, and love as I was reminded of the anchor that I have during this storm of life, an anchor I some days forgot. A later verse says:

Christ the sure and steady anchor,

Through the flood of unbelief;

Hopeless somehow, O my soul, now,

Lift your eyes to Calvary.

This my ballast of assurance,

See His love forever proved.

I will hold fast to the anchor,

It will never be removed.

Even in the flood of my doubt and pain, HE was my anchor, HE was my hope, HE was my strength, and HE was always with me. This year, Easter has a fresh and new perspective for me. For without Christ, and His sacrifice on Calvary, I would have no hope, and no anchor in this latest storm that life has thrown at our family. The wonderful thing about an anchor though, is that just as I am holding it, it is holding me. Even when I am weak, even when I have doubts, even when I don’t feel I have the strength to keep hold, He holds me, and helps me.

This is the beauty of Calvary. Not only was I given forgiveness and redemption, but I was given one

to walk with me and hold me through the trails and struggles of life. Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, made this new life, this hope, this anchor, possible.

Some have asked me how I keep walking. How do I continue to have faith? Why haven’t I given up? What am I holding on to? My one-word answer: Christ. He is my anchor. He is my foundation. He is my hope. He is my salvation. Though somedays seem hopeless, I need only look to Calvary to be reminded of the hope I, and we all have, in Him.

This anchor has allowed me to weather many storms in life, even as the ground around me shifted and fell out. I pray today, that if you have not found that hope for yourself, that you will. While this anchor will not prevent the trials from coming, it will give you hope that no matter what, this is not the end, and that you always have one walking with you. Thank you, Lord, for being my anchor, especially this year – in you, I have hope.

Here is a link to that song. I hope it blesses you - Happy Easter!! He is Risen!!