Pressing On

I don't know what it is about running in the house, but Gracie was doing it one day last week. I was busy trying to wash clothes, wash dishes and soothe a crying baby. Gracie and Will were obviously having fun playing "catch me if you can". I chided them a few times and told them what every mother says at some point: "Somebody is going to get hurt!" And somebody did. Gracie slipped and fell, busting her chin on a frame. Blood was pouring and she was crying. After some bandaids and a cold pack, I reminded her how I had told them several times to stop running in the house. Every time she looks in the mirror and sees her swollen, purple chin, she remembers how it got there.

In the book of Mark, we read where Jesus had to chide His disciples. Mark 4:39-40 says,"And He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Hush now! Be still! And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. He said to his disciples, Why are you so timid and fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" Jesus calmed the storm, but He rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith. Why? Because it is vital to our future that we grow in faith which is trust and confidence in God. If Jesus allowed us to continue to live in fear and calming every storm for us without correcting us, we would never learn how to press on to the other side.

Not only must we speak our faith outloud when things aren't going the way we planned, but we must act and move on. Hebrews 10:23 says it best, "So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He who promised is reliable and faithful to his Word."

It is time for us to ride out our storms, knowing that God has His eye on everything, including us and the storm.