It is easy to be grateful when things in life are going well. When the bank account is full and the children are behaving. But even in difficulty you can find things to be grateful for.

Gratitude helps you see that the universe is at work all around you even when circumstances are hard.

You are apt to think peace is when the kids are in bed, the house is clean and quiet, and your favorite movie is on for the evening.

But that is not peace; that is calm. Peace is not the absence of difficulty. It is felt presence.

The world tells you, you need bigger, newer and more. Before the storm hit, you could have given a long list of things you thought you needed.

But when the storm hit, none of that mattered. In the storms that shatter life as you know it, what is really valuable becomes crystal clear.

You can usually handle the mild annoyances and problems that surface on easy days. But trials bring you to the end of yourself. In those times, you realize you are completely dependent.

You need wisdom to replace your fear with faith and to give you strength to battle the storm.

Trials in life remind us that this World is not our home. Difficult diagnoses, deep grief and financial losses are reminders that this World is temporary.

You are often forced to let go of things that do not matter. Storms can be difficult; even brutal but your momentary troubles are achieving for you an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

To Theo van Gogh. Isleworth, Friday, 3 November 1876.

What is it we ask of God – is it a great thing? Yes it is a great thing, peace for the ground of our heart, rest for our soul – give us that one thing and then we want not much more, then we can do without many things, then can we suffer great things for Thy names sake.

We want to know that we are Thine and that Thou art ours, we want to be thine – to be Christians. We want a Father, a Fathers Love and a Fathers approval. May the experience of life make our eye single and fix it on Thee. May we grow better as we go on in life.

We have spoken of the storms on the journey of life, but now let us speak of the calms and joys of Christian life. And yet, my dear friends, let us rather cling to the seasons of difficulty and work and sorrow, even for the calms are treacherous often.

The heart has its storms, has its seasons of drooping but also its calms and even its times of exaltation. There is a time of sighing and of praying but there is also a time of answer to prayer. Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.

My peace I leave with you  – we saw how there is peace even in the storm.

Vincent van Goch