For Stormy Weather

O my God,
I am heartily sorry for having offended you,
and I detest all my sins because of your just punishments,
but most of all because they offend you, my God,
who are all-good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve,
with the help of your grace, to sin no more
and to avoid the near occasions of sin.

(source: iBreviary)

The grace to truly regret the wrongs we pass on, or invent; the obedience of faith that intends to avoid such sin in the future (that is, the very next time, and please God the time after that, too); and first to last, the shocking love of Jesus, makes all the difference between this experience of suffering and struggle…

He long survives, who lives an hour
In ocean, self-upheld;
And so long he, with unspent pow’r,
His destiny repell’d;
And ever, as the minutes flew,
Entreated help, or cried—Adieu!

…………………………

No voice divine the storm allay’d,
No light propitious shone;
When, snatch’d from all effectual aid,
We perish’d, each alone:
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelm’d in deeper gulfs than he.

(source: The Castaway by William Cowper : The Poetry Foundation)

…and this one.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

………………………

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.

(source: Light Shining out of Darkness by William Cowper : The Poetry Foundation)