You can’t wait until turbulent times arrive before you develop a prayer life in God. Everything that grows grows slowly, even you, even your heart that grows by prayer and Bible.
Study God’s Word, especially the Gospels and Revelation and, quite frankly, the entire thing, especially. Know what it says. Study it. Read it. Study it.
Bad times are always waiting. Many bad people distort truth about God. They use entertainment and religious teaching—of any religion, Christianity or otherwise—to give people a view of God that’s at least partially false, so when people see God in action they don’t recognize God for Who He is. They even get their ideas about God from pop fiction, even when it runs contrary to God’s Word—and they don’t think twice about it because they study pop fiction more than they study God’s Word.
The devil is behind this, along with his band of moonlight followers—and you’d be surprised to learn who they are. It’s almost like “moonshine religion”, they even go to church knowing they worship the devil at night. Many more of them are Christians who refuse to acknowledge the lack of love and justice in their actions, constantly arguing and looking for a witch to hunt.
Wicked fools are everywhere. You can’t hunt them all down, though. God keeps them there to make sure that no one loves God without an objective choice. The solution is not to expose wickedness to the world; God will do that Himself at random times, whenever it suits Him, which always ends up bringing amazing justice.
Don’t deny evil or its followers; don’t fear evil either. The only thing you can do to strengthen yourself against evil is the best thing you can do: Grow strong by growing daily.
If you grow to withstand wicked people, you will also grow to withstand the bumps and turbulence of life. It’s all the same. The only way to be strong against shaking and testing is to grow. So, grow, remain standing after the shaking, and be celebrated by Heaven, where it matters most.
Know the world, just know God more. And remember, God must be known in advance.