Day 2023 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


Matthew 8:25 NIV

How many times have you prayed for God to calm the storm's raging in your life? If you're like literally everyone else, then you've probably done it more times than you can remember. Nobody likes the uncomfortable moments that we face in life, so we almost instinctively start asking for it to just be taken away. We only see the difficulty, the fear, the worry whenever we're in the middle of the turbulent times. We rarely think about why we're facing them.

Yesterday's Random Thought over on the blog that I've started talked about how we might be approaching this common practice the wrong way. Instead of asking God to always calm the storm blowing wildly around us, maybe we should be more worried about calming the fear welling up inside. Maybe it's not about the storm but about learning to not let it instill doubt in our hearts.

You know, I honestly believe that none of us face anything in life without a purpose. There's a reason for every bit of it. Even the pain. Even the hard times. Even the changes we didn't see coming. There's always a purpose, a reason, a lesson. But if we're stuck seeing everything through a lens of fear and worry, then we're almost assured to miss out on what God is trying to teach us through it all.

So next time you find yourself in the middle of something big, scary, and completely out of your control, don't just start asking God to take it away. Instead, ask Him to help you see the message in it. If He just took away all the hardships in our lives, then we'd never grow in our faith. We'd never get stronger, never get closer to Him. We may want to just coast through life with as little difficultly as possible, but we need the hard times to help us see what we have inside.

It's natural to want to skip the hard bits, but it's not meant to happen like that. When we can learn to control our emotions and not let fear and negativity take over, then we can face anything and everything that comes our way. Again, it's not about begging God to take it all away for us. It's about learning to lean on Him, stay calm through trust, and come out the other side better for it. So instead of asking Him to make it all go away, just ask Him to help calm you in the middle of it. Suddenly the storm out there just won't seem so scary anymore!

Comments

  1. marcieSeptember 6, 2020 at 11:13 PM

    Good follow up to your random thought yesterday. It is such a good way of thinking that it is amazing. Do not worry, do not panic but be thankful. Count it all joy when we face trials and rough days. In these times we learn and grow and are changed. Have faith.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KyleSeptember 7, 2020 at 10:17 AM

      Amen, and thank you!! It really just makes sense when you stop and think about it. The happier, calmer, and more determined to stay that way, the less anything can affect us. So if we can just manage to keep our heads up and not freak out, then we can see the little gifts hidden in the hard times.

      Delete
    2. marcieSeptember 8, 2020 at 12:22 AM

      Amen.

      Delete

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