I have to be honest...I am having a rough morning....the enormity of it all is very overwhelming to me this morning for some reason... more than normal. You know...the kind of overwhelming that makes you crawl up into the fetal position and paralyzes your thoughts and actions. The kind of overwhelming that takes your breath away.....the kind where you want to cry...but just can't. The kind where it all seems so dark and bleak and crappy and not fair....but...if you look hard enough and calm your fears just for a brief second you can just barely see that little light off to the corner and then you remember that you don't have to figure this all out alone and if you hang onto Him.....that you will get through. At that moment (because of course I had my iphone in my hand tee hee) a great friend felt lead to send me her devotional for today. Just what I needed and of course when I needed it! Thanks Mandy! I have decided that my my verse through this journey is Psalms 62:1-2 and my fighter mantra is "There is no other way but through!" Thanks for joining me and my family on this journey! We will need each and every one of you.
March 23, 2012
What if Jesus were in the Boat with You?
Sharon Jaynes
Today’s Truth
“I will never leave you nor forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV).
She was among an eager group of four-year-old children crowded around my feet as I taught their Sunday school lesson. I was the teacher and they were the students – or at least that’s how it started out. The pint-sized audience listened intently as I tried to create a mental image of Jesus and His disciples trapped in a thunderstorm on the Sea of Galilee.
“The winds bleeeeeeew and rocked the little boat back and forth, back and forth. The waves were soooooo big; they splashed over the wooden sides and got the men all wet. Then water started filling up the boat - and do you know what happens when a boat gets full of water?”
“It sinks,” they chimed together.
“That’s right.” I continued with a wrinkled brow and concerned look on my face.
“That’s not all. The lightening was sooooo bright; it looked like fire in the sky. And the claps of thunder were sooooo loud; they could feel it vibrate in their chests.”
After painting this picture of impending doom and thinking I would have my “congregation” just a little worried about the fate of these men trapped in a storm, I asked the question. “Now if you were in a tiny boat like this, caught in a terrible storm like this, would you be afraid?”
Then one precious little girl, confident and unshaken by the entire scenario, shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Not if Jesus was in the boat with me.”
I will never forget that answer. As her words have echoed in my mind, I’ve come to realize that this is the answer that calms all our worries and fears. Just as the disciples had the storm raging all around them, many times the storms of life rage around us. A friend discovers she has cancer, a husband loses his job, and a child is born with birth defects.
These are storms with waves of emotions so high that our lifeboat fills with tears and appears that it could sink at any moment. Waves of fear rock our boat and threaten to spill us into the depths of despair without even a life jacket to keep us afloat.
“Tell me, would you be afraid?”
“Not if Jesus was in the boat with me.”
And guess what? He is. God said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV). Jesus said, “Surely I am with you always, to the end of the age,” (Matthew 26:20). Although the storm may be fierce, you don’t need to be afraid, because Jesus is in the boat with you. His power can calm the storm you’re in and calm the storm in you. So hang on to Him and He’ll pull you through.
