My last couple of posts haven’t been the most uplifting, joy-inspiring posts. As I explained in those posts, life has hit my family hard and we are still in the middle of it. The events of the past few months have caused me to really examine what I believe about God and why I believe it. One thing it has really caused me to examine is how I verabilze those beliefs. After a conversation with a friend, my eyes were opened to some interesting things I say.
During all that has been going on, I have said that I need to invite God into the situation and give Him control. But the truth is, He is already there. God isn’t absent from the storms of life, and just because He is present doesn’t mean everything will be calm. It is all just a matter of what I am focused on.
When Peter walked on water (Matt 14:22-33), he wasn’t walking on calm, peaceful water. Yet, when Jesus called him out of the boat, he was able to in spite of all of that. He began to sink when he became concerned about the wind and the waves. Jesus was still standing right there (and had been the whole time). Jesus was so close that He was able to immediately reach out and catch Peter.
When I am going through things, I don’t need to “invite” God into my situation. He is already there. I just need to turn my attention towards Him.
As crazy and tough as the last few months have been, when I turn my focus towards God, I can see the ways He has been moving the whole time. There are some incredible blessings that my family has received over the past few months. Blessings that weren’t asked for and that we would have never guessed were coming. It is easy to see how God has been sitting right beside me the whole time.
I am not saying that all that we have been through is from God. We live in a fallen world and no one is immune from the consequences of that. But those consequences can’t separate me from God. He is still present in every situation. I just have to decide if I’ll be like the Peter who focused on Jesus and walked on water or the Peter that focused on the wind and waves and sank.
until next time…