"But when he saw how [strong] the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' After they got into the boat, the wind died down." Matthew 14:30-32
[I wrote this when I was in college struggling. I knew that the Lord was calling me to offer some major wounds in my life to Him (I had let them define me for too long) but I felt so overwhelmed by them. On the night I wrote this I had been telling him how hard it was to face my past and this was his answer to me. Not the answer I wanted, but definitely the answer I needed.]
You're Peter. You're caught up in the storm and the chaos around you. You're focused on the problems facing you which fill you with fear and anxiety. You look around and all you see are the waves and the storm. The waves are crashing around you as you feel the control you had on your life be washed up in the ocean. Out of desperation, you cry out to Jesus for help. You call out for freedom from the storm, for any moment of peace, but you're still stuck until out of the storm you hear a voice, "I will not let you drown" it says, and you look up to see Jesus standing over you. He holds out His hand and grasps yours but He doesn't pull you out of the water just yet. You continue to see the storm around and out of fear that he won't support you, you let go of His hand and try to stay afloat on your own, but again it is too much and you call out to Him again. This time He says your name, "______, I will not let you drown," and he reaches for your hand again. You take it again and he holds you but he does not pull you up just yet. "I am doing a work in you," He says, "the storm will pass eventually, but you have to trust in me to do the work and I will pull you up when I know that you are ready." "I'm afraid that i'll drown," you say, your eyes darting from Him to the storm around you. "Look at me," He says, turning your face to look him in the eye, "I. Will. Not. Let. You. Drown. I am doing a great work in you, all you need is to keep your eyes on me and trust that I know what i am doing."
The storm around us is raging. We're concerned about politics, school, work, the future, etc. and we so often focus on the storm instead of on Jesus. All we need is to take our eyes off it and focus on Christ. Forget about politics for a second, take a break from homework, when your anxieties take over stop and pray. Refocus on JESUS. The One who gave His life for you. Life is full of chaos. It's one heck of a storm. But God does his greatest works in the storm of our lives. He stretches us in ways we didn't know we needed to be stretched. And in those moments we become more like Him. We learn to let go of ourselves and surrender it all to Him.
Take a moment now. Say a prayer of surrender. Give everything to the One who seeks to save you in each moment. He is for you. And He will never let you drown.
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