Drowning

Mark 4:37-40 "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 carte that we're going to drown?"  When Jesus woke up, he rebukes 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?"

Often I find myself feeling like I am drowning in my own anxiety and sometimes depression.  Sometimes it feels overwhelming as if it will wash over over like waves of the ocean.  Then I, like the disciples, cry out to God asking does He not care that I am drowning, that I am falling apart. Doesn't He care that I am drowning in everything.  Often he responds the same why He did with the disciples "Why are you afraid, do you still have no faith?"  Despite knowing God will take care of everything and I just need to trust Him, despite seeing His glory in action, I still get afraid.  I still cry out to Him and beg Him to rescue me from this heartache and pain. 

Its always hard to understand why God is bringing you through a storm when you are going through it.  But after the storm, when you are looking at the rainbow you can see what His plan was, and you say "Oh...okay."  We never know what God has planned for us, but we need to have faith that His will, will be done.  We need to look at things and see the lessons God may be trying to teach us, look to find the rainbow among the storm, the calm among the waves.  That is part of walking Bravely on his path, accepting the hardships of life and seeing the good that could come from it...

Walking Bravely

1Corinthians 116: 13-14 - Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.

Sometimes it is very difficult to stand fast in our faith.  As I mentioned in my previous post, we are always concerned with other people think that it hinders our walk with God.  It allows us to weaver and falter in our path because our fear of who others would think or say keeps up from being brave and walking the "road less traveled" so to speak.  We don't want to go against the grain but many times that is exactly what God is asking us to do.  I know there are things God asks me to do and I simply try to negotiate with Him telling Him I am not brave enough or I just can't do what He's asking.

Why is it that we have such a hard time following what God asks us to do but instead try to negotiate out of it or try to make things happen according to our terms?  "okay God I will do that, but I will do it this way instead of how you want it."  "But God, that doesn't fit into my comfort zone, or my plan for the next couple of years."  I wonder if the apostles did the same thing.  When Jesus asked John to leave his fishing nets and follow Him, did John try to reason with him and negotiate a terms of agreement?  Did they have as hard of a time with bravely following Jesus as we do?  Did they worry about what other people would think of them? Or whether or not they could do it?

It is easy to let everything I do be done in love, that's not the hard part.  The hard part is being brave and strong to step forward and outside of my comfort zone.  Sometimes I wonder what have I missed because I was not brave enough?  What good have I sacrificed because I was too afraid to listen when God said "hey do this"  I know I need to be braver, to give up the things that are hindering myself from walking bravly down the path that God wants me to.  But am I strong enough to do that?  I allow my fears to get the better of me, even now as I type this.  I am not sure where my future is going to take me, or how often I will continue to try and reason with God, but I am willing to try and see,.

Be Brave

Recently my church held a women’s conference over a Friday and Saturday.  This was the first year that I had attended, something inside just kept telling me that I needed to attend this year.  That there was something that I needed to hear.  The theme for this year’s conference was Be Brave, Walk Brave.  We talked about the things that could hinder our walk with God with the question hanging: what stones are in your shoes that hinder or hold you back from what God is calling you to do or walking a closer walk with Him.  We heard the inspiring words of Emily Fox, founder of Forget the Frock ministry which is an amazing story, when you get a chance read up on it.  Something she said that remained with me throughout the conference and days following was “Being brave is trusting God will take you where you need to go.”  Sometimes we don't trust God to lead us to where we need to go.  We question what others would think or our own capabilities to do what God is calling us to do.

2 Corinthians 3:5 - Not that we are adequate in ourselves consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.

Being brave in following God's call is trusting that we are adequate to complete the task.  God has everything planned out for us and knows what we are capable of, so why do we constantly question that?  Why do we question what other people think and feel?  Because we're human right? We allow a multitude of things to hold us back from walking down that path. We like to hold on to things rather than trusting God to take it all.  We want to hold onto that one thing, the thing we may find comfort in.  I think we are too afraid of the unknown to effectively be brave enough to walk out into the unknown trusting God will provide all we need. We want to stay in that familiarity even if it means holding on to something that is not good for our lives. I think we look for proof that we would be safe and protected.  We want that sense of security we get from our "thing" that we are too afraid to let go and let God as the saying goes.


The truth is we are inadequate, we do fall short, but being brave is trusting that God proves all we need to be adequate.  Being brave is trusting that God will protect us and lift us up when we fall.  We need to trust God enough to let go of those things holding us back and step bravely outside of that comfort zone.  I know some of the things that hold me back, the things I hold on to because they are familiar.  Yes, they are things that can do more damage than good like anxiety and depression, guilt and self-doubt, fear.  I pray that I am able to let these things go and walk the path that God intends for me.


What are some of the things that hinder your walk?  What is holding you back from being brave?