but can He calm MY storm?

Mark 4:39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.40He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

The disciples walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, lived with Jesus and yet still had trouble understanding just exactly who Jesus was. They certainly didn't understand what having Jesus in their daily lives meant to them.  How He could provide and comfort and....

And we forget too.  

Even now, after having the Holy Spirit to help us as we study the Word to learn who He is, we still forget, and/or fail to have faith that having Jesus in our lives can beautifully effect our daily lives.  That He can also calm the storms in our life as we call on Him.

A few years ago there was a popular Christian song that said, "sometimes He calms the storm, and sometimes He calms the child".  That's my prayer in my life as I face storms...

Jesus, either calm this storm, or calm me...

and for anyone who reads this today, I pray this for you.

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deut. 31:6

So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. psalm 46:2

How do I live this life?

I grabbed my coffee, my devotional book, my bible, and I sat down on the couch, closed my eyes and with quiet desperation asked...

 "How do I live this life?"

My own negative thoughts rose up within me and answered my own question with these words,

 "not very well."

I had been up since 3:37am EST.  Worried about everything.  I don't typically wake up worried, but due to some current life circumstances, that's where i found myself this morning.  Worried.

I opened up my devotional book (currently reading Jesus Calling by Sarah Young) and read this line...

"Peace is my continual gift to you..."


In the stillness of the moment and with my unsettled brain still stirring, I thought,

"You, Lord, offer peace, and yet I choose worry...why is that?"


My brain processed the things that had kept me up and stirring this morning. Mostly worried about how my decisions I'm making today will affect my/our future.  Not necessarily bad space to be thinking through, but what i was primarily worried about was...

the future...


I continued reading my devotion....

"Peace flows abundantly from my throne of grace.  Just as the Israelites could not store up manna for the future but had to gather it daily, so it is with My peace.  The day to day collecting of manna kept My people aware of their dependence on Me.  Similarly, I give you sufficient Peace for the present, when you come to me by prayer and petition with thanksgiving.  If I gave you permanent Peace, independent of My presence, you might fall into the trap of self-sufficiency.  May that never be!  I have designed you to need Me moment by moment."


When the Israelites were in the desert, God gave them enough food (manna) for each day.  They had to depend/trust Him to give it again the next day.  And so it is with peace.  I don't have peace for future days yet because those days aren't here yet.  So, I accept His peace for today, I trust Him for today, and I know that I can trust Him for tomorrow, and therein lies my peace.

Perhaps worry is a struggle for you too, robbing you of peace.

Trust Him for today.  Accept His peace for today.  And then do it again tomorrow.

Matthew 6:34 (MSG)
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

So Long World

No, I'm not ending it all.  How could I?  For even if my body dies, I would live on somewhere.  Heaven or Hell.

If I'm going to spend eternity with HIM, then I want to know Him.  I want to know who I will be spending the rest of all time with.  Yes, I know Him now.  But I want to know Him even better!

Which is exactly why I'm saying "so long world". At least for a time. The most important time. My quiet time.

You see, I love techno gadgets.  I have a tablet, a 11.6 in cute 'lil laptop (that I love!), and my droid.  And I love my Bible app.  For a while now I have been doing quiet time with my Bible app, and I love it.  I love the ease of looking things up and taking notes and all the things the app offers.  The bad part of it is, when I use that, the Lord never has my full attention.  If an email comes in, I check it.  Or I'm tempted to go on Facebook and see what you all are doing.  Or i respond to a text message, or FB chat, or one of the other millions of things out there via the world wide web, that are able to gain my attention.

So, it's back to the basics for me.  My Coffee. My devotional book.  My Bible.  My Jesus.

I will kiss the rest of the world goodbye for this precious quiet time in order to fully embrace the One I love more than any other.

The One who gets me through this life, and hopefully not just enduring it, but living it to the full abundance that He promises when He says, "I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly."

^{John 10:10} The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

How about you?  Does He have your full attention?  Ever? Those are questions I've been asking myself lately, and am vowing to spend some one on one time with just Jesus and no  one else.

So from now on, for my quiet time, it's so long world, Hello Jesus.