By Desiree Bustamante

Jesus guides us through troubling deep waters.

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“So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind. But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, ‘Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?’

When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Silence! Be still!’ Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’”
Mark 4:36-40 New Living Translation

Rivers of trouble flood our life. The world’s brokenness touches us every day, and we often find ourselves in circumstances we never expected. So, we cry out to God, wanting Him to calm the storm and bypass the hard times altogether, or at least part the waters and make a clear path we can see and feel beneath our feet. Yet it seldom works that way because God asks us to trust Him in what we can’t see ahead or safely hold onto.

Sometimes we call God out for sleeping while our storm-tossed boat is sinking. We feel that He doesn’t love us when we see someone else swim through hard times, seemingly without difficulty. We become envious of the ease we think others are experiencing, yet we truly have no idea, nor should we. Our eyes should only be on Jesus’ enduring presence.

Stop looking at the experiences and outcomes of other’s circumstances. Don’t look at the deep waters ahead. Focus on the Savior who considers you His precious child. Allow Him to live in you, through you, and walk beside you in every unknown moment. He has a plan. Trust Him! Life’s deep waters will never overcome you. Jesus will keep you in His tight, loving grasp. Always.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado