Jesus Calms The Storms

Jesus Calms the Storm

²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” – Matthew 8:23-27 (NIV)

After my husband was hit by that “man-cold”, I heard a slight, few, dry coughs from my son last Friday night while he was playing downstairs with his video game. That day was his usual time to get up early and he was greeted, he said, with a deadly kiss of extremely cold air when he went to school. Paired with the unexpected showers, the chillier the temperature got. When he got home in the afternoon, I could see his eyes were becoming glassy like.

I bought an organic cold syrup to try and see if that would help with his symptoms right away. Despite getting the annual flu shots, I didn’t expect for it to help him as much if it was just a plain “cold”. He knew the routines from this “mommy” now. Lots of fluids and rest. For the past weekend, he had gotten more tired but we were both grateful that the symptoms were not as bad as they used to bother him. His appetite picked up yesterday, the 4^th day that he was ill. I requested if he could be off from school and with a slight protest at first (he loved to study hard), finally agreed that “mommy’s advice” would be best if he obeyed. 

“Lord, thank You for always being there for us,” my husband started his prayer on Monday morning when he had to go back to work at the wee hours of that morning, after battling his “man-cold” for a week.

“Please continue to give “R” (which was me) her strength and that she wouldn’t get sick like “Kristian and I,” he added.

He knew…We were all grateful that so far, I hadn’t been invaded by these nasty viruses. It helped a lot that I could keep caring for the two of them. Bombarding them with hot broths or soups, cut-up fruits, using the over-worked toaster for their toasts and other healthy snacks to boost their immunity.

This morning, at 1:00 something in the morning, I found myself slightly crooked from my position on the bed that I was so achy when I tried to change my position. An image of Jesus calming the storm came to my memory. I knew…It was true…I knew there was an account of that in the Bible. I found the particular story (which were the verses above). 

Illnesses…Losing my battle at work to keep my full time position by demoting me. Not getting the expected help from the government agency that was supposed to investigate for me. Financial needs…And I could go on and on…

I know it’s not only me going through life’s storms. Some are light. Some are severest. To know Jesus is not enough. We must never stop knowing the things that belong to Him more and more. Through life’s storms, we can use those as opportunities to increase our faith, instead of being lessened. 

“Oh, you of little faith…”

I don’t want to be like that…Because the truth is no one can weather any life’s storms without His help. His help is available through His Word. And we can use His Word to speak to us and have these doubts, worries, bad habits, sinful lives, and other tough storms to be rebuked by His truth!

From my own life’s journey, how many times has He rebuked, not the storm, but me? He doesn’t want to calm the ravaging storms that are going on outside. 

He wants to calm…always calm…the storms in me…