Let's Walk On Water

During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

29"Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:25-31

Getting closer to God requires a step of faith for most. First of all, in order to get closer to God, you need to spend time with Him in prayer and meditation, and in God's Word. And in order to do that, you need to find the time to do so, which means not doing something else. That can be the toughest part about drawing closer to God. I know it took me the longest time, and while I had the intentions of spending time with God, life ALWAYS got in the way. And it will always try to get in the way. But that first step of faith is such a biggie, because it's a step of faith that finding that time will be worth it. Of course it is. There is something truly remarkable and amazing about sitting down with your Bible, opening it up, and reading something that you feel was meant specifically for you! You can read just the words of encouragement you need, or words of inspiration, or words of correction if needs be.

I love reading about Peter walking on water, because that is one incredible leap of faith he took n the first place. He stepped out of the boat to walk on water, and for a minute he did, and then this big bad wind came up and frightened him, and he fell. That big bad wind can represent so many things for us. Money is always so easy to use as an example, so I'll go there I think. Every year Andy gets laid off for a period of time, it's almost a complete certainty. So last year we made sure that we set some money aside to keep us afloat during the lay-off time. Some things came up though last fall, and we really felt that we needed to give most of our savings to different ministries that had blessed us incredibly. So we did that, taking that huge leap of faith and placing our trust in God to be our Jehovah Jireh. And then Andy stopped working. While there was a peace about us in knowing that God had us taken care of, it's been really, really hard to trust. That big bad wind keeps calling, it keeps telling me that it would be okay for me to contact our credit card companies and request new cards- the ones that I'd previously cut up. That big bad wind keeps telling me that it's okay to try and take care of our finances in whatever ways possible. And more than that, that big bad wind sends people from time to time too- real people, friends and family who tell us we're idiots for not saving, and who told us months ago that the responsible thing to do was to set as much aside as we could.

Perhaps they were right in the eyes of the world. But so far, we're walking on water. Every day God is proving Himself the provider. Gas money gets pressed into our hands, a bag of groceries shows up at the door, or I'll walk into the grocery store with a small amount of money, have a specific list, and every single thing on that list is on sale, so I walk away with great savings.

I want to continue walking on water and continue trusting and believing, because what is the alternative? The alternative is to falter, and have Jesus look at me and say "You of little faith, why did you doubt." I don't want to be the one of little faith- I want to be the one of great faith. And I feel it. I feel this great blanket of security around us, and the more time I spend with God, the heavier that blanket feels. I'm a blanket person- the more on our bed, the better. I love the weight of a pile of comforters and blankets, it's so warm and comforting. I'm going to wrap myself up in the comfort of my God and ride out this storm to the end. It's going to be one fantastic ride.