Twelve disciples. One boat. A calm sea. Jesus told them to get into the ship and go to the other side. No big deal. Six out of the twelve were fishermen by trade so they knew how to handle a sea. They didn’t know what the plan was, Jesus didn’t tell them. He just told them to go to the other side and they just simply obeyed.

(Reference Matthew 14:22-33 & Mark 6:45-51)

All of the sudden, winds came. A simple task became difficult. They began to stress in rowing the ship, trying to stay on course to do what their Master had bidded. It was getting very hard. The winds were too strong and the waves were too high. What they didn’t know was that Jesus had went up to a mountain to pray yet He still had full vision of where they were. “He saw them toiling in rowing…”

If they had known that they were going to have to fight a storm, do you think they would have been as obedient? Me personally, no. God doesn’t tell us everything we will go through but He does know what we can handle.

Six out of the twelve chosen disciples were fishermen. They knew the sea like the back of there hand. The shortest course, the best fishing spots, how long it took to get to the other side, etc. Jesus knew they were capable of what He was sending them through.

God will not send you through something unless He knows that you can handle it.

What He sends you through, He’ll take you through.

Jesus gives us a choice as to how we respond to difficult tasks He assigns to us. Mark 6:48 says Jesus “saw them” and He went “unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed them by.” He was giving them a choice. You can either try it on your own, or you can cry out for help. The disciples chose to cry out in fear and Peter took it even further and wanted to get to were Jesus was. (Matthew 14:28-29) Once Jesus was in the ship with the disciples, Matthew 14:33 says they knew Him and worshipped Him. They believed in who He was even the more. Because of what they went through and because of how they responded, they better understood just how great He really is and worshipped Him. John 4:23 says “the Father seeketh such to worship Him.”

Sometimes God sends us through things so we can better understand who He really is.

Will everything He sends us through be easy? No. But I Corinthians 10:13 says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” The temptation this verse is referring to is not necessarily sin as we think of. It is also referencing to trials, tests, things we have to go through. God will make a way of escape and that “way” is Him. God knows our strengths and weaknesses. He also knows that our weaknesses can be made stronger through Him.

II Corinthians 12:9 says, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

I John 4:4 says, “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

God wants us to respond to our weak times by calling out to Him. That is how we overcome! He gives us a choice. It’s up to us to decide. He’s there, He’s watching, waiting to respond to our cries for help when our weaknesses become greater that our strengths. That’s when His strength makes our weaknesses strong. It’s only through Him that we can overcome.

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Just as God told the disciples to go, my husband and I felt like God told us to go too. Our comfortable became uncomfortable as He began to bid us to a new chapter in life. We moved from Oklahoma to Arkansas at the end of 2018, totally depending and trusting in God. I’m sure there will be storms along the way but God has a greater plan in it all than what we can see.

From His word, I read that when He bids us to do something, He is always close by, watching and waiting for when we need Him. It’s our choice to either call out to Him in our weak times or try to handle it ourselves. I pray we always call out to Him!

(Ouachita Mountain range view from my new back yard.)

Stay strong. Keep the faith. Don’t give up through everything. Just trust and believe that He cares about all your needs. He knows you’re stronger than you think you are.