How to Overcome the Storm

Today the world is in crisis and people are panicking because of the Coronavirus. This virus has affected more than 200.000 people around the world and a few thousand people have already died.

The world was not ready for this. Now – should we live in fear and agony? The answer is No.

Fear is not going to help us or solve our problems and it’s not going to make our lives better or happier. Fear can paralyze our lives and make it very hard; and people can lose their sleep and their hope for the future.

I am sure that most of us have had storms and difficulties during our lifetime. And I want you to know that God loves us and will not forsake us, because we are His children and He wants nothing but the best for us. With His help we can overcome many storms; we will overcome this one too by increasing our faith through prayer.

When everything is normal in our life (when we are healthy, happy and safe), we don’t pay attention to how much God blesses us; but when something goes wrong, we worry easily.

Our faith should always balance our lives. Faith and trust in God should help us especially during the storms in our life.

In the Gospel of Mark, we read the following, “A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat so that the boat was already being swamped. But He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him up and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4: 37-40).

During the summer of 2013 we had a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with our parishioners. We visited many holy sites and also we had a boat ride on the sea of Galilee. At that time, I was reading the above-mentioned part from the Gospel. And suddenly a big storm started and it was very scary. The Captain of the boat said that this is very dangerous. I started to pray and asked God to help us and save us from the storm. My prayer was not answered promptly; the storm didn’t stop. I continued my prayer but with different words. I said, “Fine Lord, we put our lives in your hand and we want to be with you forever!” After these words I experienced peace which I can’t explain with words. The storm continued for a few more minutes and stopped.

Dear Faithful, when one door is closed, God usually opens another door. Let us dispel the fear from our lives and continue our heartfelt prayers that God will bring a cure, peace and happiness to our world once again. Amen

With prayers,
Fr. Hakob Gevorgyan