During these tumultuous times, you are probably trying to figure out what to do to remain safe, sane, healthy, and alive. I am sure that at times things seem to be coming at you from all sides and you don’t know what to do about them. You’ve asked over and over, “What’s going on?” “Lord why me?” It would be great if you only had to deal with one dilemma or one storm at a time, but it often seems as if you are having to deal with multiple dilemmas and multiple storms at the same time, many that are out of your control. And in 2020, even greater dilemmas and greater storms are the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, as well as the mess that’s going on in the white house that has entered into your house, without an invitation.

You try your best to handle situation after situation, but it seems as if the pain, the rain, and the storms keep pounding on you and around you, with no end in sight. And you dare to ask the proverbial questions, ‘What’s next?’ or ‘What else can happen?’ The reality is, and you are keenly aware that you probably don’t want to know what’s next, nor do you want to know what else can happen; next and what else can more than likely be worse than what you are already dealing with.

As you are confronted with the trials, tribulations, storms, and other battles, and perils of life, it seems as if you can’t make it through and you don’t know which way to go. What happened to your friends and family members? Sometimes it seems as if you are battling by yourself. And when people ask you how are you doing, you often reply, ‘I’m going through a lot!’ Often your response is indicative of what is actually taking place with you; you are ‘going through.’ Your response to the inquiry of your state of mind, your state of health, and your state of life is rarely, ‘I’m in a lot.’ The fact that you replied with ‘I’m going through’ is an indication that you are not stuck in whatever is going on with you or around you; you are coming out, because you are just passing through! This declaration itself should be a reason for you to stand.

Enough does get to be enough! But what can you do about any of the unfortunate situations in which you find yourself having to battle? You’ve prayed, you’ve cried, you’ve blamed God, and on many occasions you’ve tried to bargain with Him. Sometimes you have to just sit with yourself and begin to observe yourself instead of participating with yourself. Take stock of your situation(s), being realistic of what you can do abut them, what you are willing to do about them, and decide which of them you need to completely let go and turn over to God. At some point you will mature enough where you will learn to take your trials and tribulations to God from the onset of their entrance into your life. You know He doesn’t need your help. But whatever you do, you must hold on, not throw in the towel and do whatever you can, allowing yourself to once again stand.

Famous gospel singer Donnie McClurkin has a hit song that plainly states, “After You’ve Done All You Can, You Just Stand.” You must be realistic bout what you can do and what you cannot do. When you think about it, you have been this way before. It might not have been the exact same situation, but you have had storms, rain, trials, and tribulations occur in your life before, and God saw you through them, He will see you through your current storms and any other ones that will appear in your life. And believe me, once you get past one storm, one dilemma, and one uninvited situation, there is another one lurking over the horizon. However, whatever is going on in your life, you must stand!

Get out of that bed, get out of that chair and stand! The longer you lie in your bed or linger in your comfy chair, the longer you will wallow in the pain of your rain, your winds, your storms, your dilemmas, your trials, and your tribulations. Think about it; you’ve never seen anyone fighting from his or her bed or from his or her comfy chair. They are always standing when they fight. Lying down and lingering in your bed or your comfy chair will only take your strength, rendering you even more helpless and hopeless. However, your stand is a stance in preparation for anything that comes against you. Your stand is an affirmation to declare as Fred Hammond sang, “No Weapon Formed Against Me Shall Prosper.” You will then be able to go on to repeat Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Your stand also makes you bolder, where you can proclaim Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear.”

You have cried and prayed, and hopefully you have voted in order for you to have a positive impact in lessening, reversing, and eliminating the storms in your life, as well as those in the lives of others. You’ve called on your friends, at least the ones that have remained with you in the midst of your trials, tribulations, rains, and storms of life, as well as family embers, but remember, many of them are also facing their own life storms. On the other hand, many of them don’t want to hear about your life storms; they are fair weather friends. If the weather isn’t fair, to good, or great in your life, they are no longer friends. But no matter what, you will move past whatever is taking place in your life; you just STAND! Things will get better, but you must be in a position of power and authority to not only see them when thy get better, but to also receive the transformation and blessings that come with the better times.  God owns your house, but remember He also owns the white house, as well as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. “When you have done all you can you must stand!” God’s got it!

You’ve got God; you will weather this and any other storms! It’s up to you to do all that you can, no matter how things look with you and around you.  No matter what things look like in your house, no matter what they look like in your neighbor’s house, no matter what they look like in the white house, remember that you can stand, knowing that God has the finally say! Donnie McClurkin also reminds you that “You Can Get Back Up Again!” Getting up and standing after your storms makes you better and not bitter. Your stand will be the evidence of your testimony to the tests you have passed as you weathered the storms of your life, whether they were invited or uninvited. “When You Have Done All You Can You Must Stand!”

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