My Dearest Sister,
I love it when God tells us exactly what we need to hear exactly when we need to hear it. Whether it’s through your daily Bible reading, in your prayer time, a teaching at church, or through the subtle words of a dear friend, He has such a marvelous way of reminding us about His truths. This very thing happened to me during the most recent Sunday morning service at our church. Let me start by telling you that the week prior hadn’t exactly been fantastic. I had been dealing with the worst week of my vet assistant internship so far (lots of catty technicians, gossips, and bad attitudes); the headache of trying to get the paperwork for an out-of-state car registration sorted out before my current registration expires; trying to find a new dog sitter for my upcoming trip because the one I had cancelled on me; and on top of all of that I decided to get emotional about the fact that my husband is leaving in a few days for four weeks of Army training. For some reason, the stress of the week was just really getting to me. I started thinking “If I can’t handle these little struggles, how on earth am I going to handle a nine month deployment, a cross-country move, and the last year of my Bachelor’s degree, all of which are only just around the corner?”. I could feel these difficult events staring me in the face and for the first time in a long time I began to feel afraid of what the future held.
When we walked into church Sunday morning, all of these things were on my mind. I was so distracted that I barely paid attention to the songs we sang or the announcements that were given. All I could focus on was this gnawing feeling in my gut that things were about to get a lot harder and I was not going to like it. And then the pastor started his lesson in Matthew, Chapter 14. You know, the one where Jesus walks on water? It’s verses 22-33 and I encourage you to go read it when you are finished reading this letter. Maybe it will speak to you as much as it did to me. Anyway, at first I wasn’t paying much attention to the teaching, but then slowly God started working on my heart. By the time he got to the part where Peter walks out on the water toward Jesus, I was transfixed. He was talking about how as long as Peter kept his eyes on the Lord, he could stay above the water. It was only when he started focusing on the storm around him that he became afraid and began to sink. When the lesson was over, I was in a little bit of a shock. It was like God took one of His truths and wham! Hit me with it right between the eyes. He’s so amazing in His timing, isn’t He?
Sitting in that service, I totally felt like Peter. For the past couple years life has been going pretty smoothly for us, all things considered. It’s easy to have faith and focus on the goodness of the Lord when things are going smoothly. It’s when the storms of life come, when the waves start to crash and the wind starts to howl that we lose our faith and start to focus on our fear instead of on Christ; It’s then that we start to drown in our own troubles. That week I could see some storms brewing in my future and like Peter, I became afraid of them. Instead of looking to Jesus and resting in the promise that He will never leave or forsake me, I had started to sink in the waves of my own fear.
God never said we have smooth sailing our whole lives, that no difficult or stressful or painful thing would ever happen to us. In fact, quite the contrary. One of my favorite scriptures is Jesus’ words of hope to his followers in John 16:33 – “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Be of good cheer simply means “have courage”. So even though we know that life will get hard, even unbearable sometimes, we can have courage because we know that Christ is greater than any trial or heartache that comes our way; He has already won the eternal victory for us, and yet he is also there to lead us through any storm that arises while we walk this earth. All we have to do is stay focused on Him instead of the storm.
My favorite part about this story is the ending. You see, even though Peter faltered and let his fear take over, as soon as he called out for the Lord to save him, Jesus was immediately there with an outstretched hand to pull him out of the crashing waves. Not only that, as soon as they got into the boat Jesus calmed the storm. Our Lord not only loves us enough to save us when we cry out for help, He also has the power to make the entire storm disappear. Now that’s a mighty God! If we can rest in this truth alone, what reason do we even have to be afraid in the first place? We should have nothing but courage in this life because He is our almighty God and He loves us.
I am so thankful that God spoke to me in such a powerful way this week. Even though I can still see those same storms just on the horizon, I am not afraid any more. I know that I can have courage because Christ is my Lord and Savior and He is greater than any trouble that comes my way; I know that if I stay focused on Him, the waves and wind will not overtake me. And even if I should falter, I know that if I cry out to Him, He will be there in an instant to save me. He loves us so much my dear sister, and this is His promise to us. So be of good cheer, for He is greater than any storm we will ever encounter!
Your Courageous Sister in Christ,
~ Lauren
Inspiring!