Today was the last message in the four part series, "The Counselor". (If you haven't been at Radiant, I HIGHLY recommend checking out the podcasts HERE.) Each week Pastor Mike has been talking about the ultimate counselor, Jesus, and how He uses key questions and offers strategic statements to help us discover truths. This week he talked about fear, primarily drawing from Mark 4 when Jesus and the disciples were on the boat during the storm that ultimately led Jesus to ask the disciples, "Why are you so afraid?"
When we learned that Emmett had passed, one of my immediate questions was, "What have I done to deserve this?!" I felt so confused, as if God were punishing me. I must be outside of the will of God in order to be going through something like this. Why would He allow something so tragic to happen to us? What had we done wrong?
Here's the thing though - tragedy, struggles, a storm - doesn't mean you're outside of the will of God. (God is not a bully. He doesn't sit in Heaven like a kid holding a magnifying glass on a hot day over us "ants".) Really, we'll (most likely) never know the why to our circumstance on this side of eternity (I'm really mostly okay with that). What we do know is we have a storm to endure…like the disciples. The disciples didn't experience the storm because they were out of God's will - Jesus Himself was the one who instructed them to cross the Sea of Galilee, and He stayed in the boat during the storm.
One of the main points that really pierced my heart this morning was in regards to Jesus being on the boat with the disciples during the storm. This incredible storm raged on around them; it was all they could see. They looked around at the storm, and immediately started questioning where Jesus was, when all along He was still in the boat. Jesus' response to their questioning was simple, "Why are you so afraid?"
The biggest thing I learned today though, was this: regardless of whether I can see or feel Him, it's important to never doubt the presence of God in the presence of a storm. Every storm has a purpose! It's so worth running the race and enduring the storm though, (and I was reminded why when we read from James 1:2-4). It's this kind of testing that proves who we are. Our faith and hearts are refined like gold when we go through the fire or through a storm. That's simply how I choose to view each storm. Testing and trials are a process of refinement, and trekking through them helps us discover who we are in Christ.
I've said it before, this is the greatest storm I have ever endured (and I sincerely pray it is the worst I'll ever have to endure). Even though I experience intense moments of weakness, the greatest gift of this most terrible time is the opportunity Ryan and I have been given - it's in times like this that we are given a choice, to lean or leave.
We choose to lean.
We choose to call upon Jesus, even when it hurts and we don't understand the why, because He is still there. Even when we don't see Him, Jesus is still in our boat. If we allow Him to, God can use any storm for our good. We just have to allow our fear of the storm to be transformed into the fear of the Lord.
The beauty of a storm is it gives you the opportunity to choose to lean into God.
The beauty of a storm is the refinement of your faith.
The beauty of a storm is the way we can discover, or rediscover, the sweet love and mercies of Jesus.
He is still there.
He is still in the boat.
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