Tag: spirituality

He will Catch You

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Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.  After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”  Matthew 14:22-33

Have you ever had the events of your life swirling around you so big that you felt as if you were sinking under the weight of them?

In the scripture above Peter could see Jesus in front of him walking on water. He looks to me to be so focused on Jesus as he stepped out of the boat that he did not think much about the wind that was swirling around him.   Unfortunately as he started across the water he began to notice the wind and even though he could still see Jesus right in front of him he began losing his focus on Him.  Peter then became frightened, which then caused him to begin to sink.

Has this ever happened to you?

Some days I have felt like I was so focused on Jesus that nothing could ever cause me to lose sight of Him, but then out of nowhere the storms of life start to swirl around me.  The more the storms swirl the more I find myself thinking about how big and scary they are and forgetting how big and strong my Jesus is.  When this happens within a matter of seconds I have found myself beginning to sink even though Jesus was standing right in front of me the whole entire time.

Thankfully just as he did with Peter, Jesus has reached out his hand to catch me…not just once, but many many times.

No matter how strong the storms of life may become thankfully no storm is ever to big for Jesus.

Do you find yourself feeling as if you are sinking today?

Remember that  Jesus will never leave you.

He will not let you sink,

He is right there beside you reaching out his hand to catch you.

Put your trust in Him and let his peace calm your storm today.

 

 

He is Here

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I waited patiently on the Lord

And He came to me like a great light

I felt His strength and power washing over me

Yet His touch was so gentle.

Soothing and comforting

Calming the crashing of the storm

Bringing peace

I waited for Him and He came

Though I know He was never gone

Jeremiah 29:11-13   For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 

No matter what you are going through today know you are not alone.   Jesus is right there beside you ready to wrap His loving arms around you.  Trust in Him and He will give you what you need to sustain you through this day.  There is no better place to be than in His loving arms.

Have a blessed day,

T

His Time Not Mine

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Lately I have been going through a hard time.

Though I wake up each day and set out trying not dwell on my problems  lately I find them starting to get the best of me.  I also find myself being a big crybaby which is not usually my type of behavior.

I also have been doing a lot of thinking, praying and sole searching lately.  Today I think maybe I have realized part of my problem, here lately I have been feeling God calling me to do things that are way out of my comfort zone.  Not that I have never done anything for God out of my comfort zone before but lately he has been asking things that require a lot more braveness and stepping out in faith.

For the last 5 weeks I have been taking a Bible study class called “Discerning the voice of God” coincidence?  There is no such thing as coincidence and I know God put me there in that class for a reason.

While taking that study something has profoundly hit me and as I found out yesterday I am not the only one in the class who has been hit with this… I usually go into my prayer time talking to God.  I pray about a lot things never seeming to be able to shut up, I pray for others, and for his guidance, etc, etc.  My prayer time seems to me to be what I thought was a good amount of time spent with God.  But what has hit me all the sudden is the fact that I spend a lot of time talking and never being quiet to listen.

Would I walk up to a stranger and start asking for stuff?  Well if I never listen to God then how do I get to know him?  Wouldn’t that be like just expecting him to answer all my prayers and never actually taking the time to let him tell me what he wants?

God wants me to want to know him and  I do want to know him, at times I want to know him so bad it hurts.  How can I get to know him if I am flapping my mouth the whole time I am praying and never letting Him have a turn?

Over the course of the past five weeks I have been making a conscious effort to set quietly and keep my mouth shut.  In the beginning of all this I would hear cars go by, the clock ticking and of course for some reason my cat, Bart seems to be disturbed by me sitting quietly which usually turns into him getting right up in my face and meowing as loudly as he can in protest.

Gradually over the past few weeks I have noticed a change.  I am starting to hear God more loud and clear.  Another thing I am finding out is the more I get to know him the more the emotions run.  At times I get so overwhelmed by it all I just don’t know what to do with them so I tend to cry a lot.  Most of the crying is joy, but some is pain at the fact that I do not always do what he asks.  I also cry a lot because I am overwhelmed with the fact that He gives me these little jobs to do that I really feel unqualified to do.

The quiet little nudges I used to feel are now much louder and clearer and I can’t avoid them anymore.   Trusting he will equip me is my newest thing I am learning to do.

So today I got to thinking…I wonder if all the health and family issues that I seem to be bombarded with lately are being used as a tool to distract me from what God is calling me to do?  If I absorb myself in all the stuff going on I don’t have time to do or think about what he asks.   I am not looking for anyone to answer that question, I am just thinking out loud is all.  I am pretty sure God has already shown me the answer…things need to be done in His time not mine and it’s time.

 

Here I am Lord, Send Me

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I walked to the front of the room my body trembling.  As I turned to face the crowd a bead of sweat trickled down the side of my face.  I felt my feet about to turn and make a run for the door but just as I was about to make my move heard a voice whisper “look into their faces, you have nothing to fear.”

I paused moment to catch my breath and reluctantly looked out into the room.  I looked out into the faces I had been avoiding and that was the minute I saw Him.  At that very moment I saw Jesus, He was right there smiling back at me. He was sitting there in the sea of faces that were lovingly smiling back at me.  I saw His love radiating, shining out in the smiles of my church family.

The pastor introduced us all and then we turned to face the alter for the ceremony.  As I stood at the alter I felt hands begin to lay on my back.  I had no idea whose hands were touching me but then I realized that though the faces were unseen the hands belonged to Jesus.

We all knelt down together and I bowed my head in prayer.  As we prayed somehow the room seemed to disappeared and I began to feel His spirit flowing through me filling me with His love.  As we all prayed together it felt as if we became one.  We were all Him.  We were all His hands, His feet, His body.  We were all His love.

Today in that room full of my church family Jesus surrounded me.  Together our voices sang His praises together.  In that room we all stood as one.  His loving arms wrapped around us, lifting us up, tying us all together.

Today the love of Jesus plunged so deep into my heart it ached, filling me with a love so strong and overwhelming that it poured down my face in a flood of tears.

As I looked around the room today I saw Jesus.

He was in the faces of my church family

He was in the touch of their hands

He was there in their hugs

He was there in the love

He WAS the love

The love of Jesus seems so overwhelming to me at times that I could never begin to explain how it feels.  All I can seem to say  is that it feels so good I never want to go back to the place I used to live.  I want to live right here in this moment I want to only move forward from here on out, going where ever he leads.

Isaiah 6:8  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”  And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”