The Commander of the Storm!

 I seem to have fallen behind in my Bible reading, I am attempting to read through the Bible in a year. I say attempting because I have tried and tried and tried before and have never had success. So here I am trying again!  The last few weeks have been busy with wedding plans for my brother's wedding, a conference that I cook for and help my husband put on for children's workers in the central Maine area, and I also came down with the flu. So because of all of those things I just have not been able to keep up with all my reading, so today I am trying to do some catch up.
 Today as I was reading I was asking God to speak to me, to give me new clarity, to teach me, to draw me closer to Himself! I was reading Mark 3-6, specifically today. It was at the end of Mark 6 that God spoke to me. Verses 45-52, tell the story of how Jesus had sent His disciples out on a boat, while He went up on the mountain to pray.  Evening came and the disciples were out in the middle of the sea and Jesus it says," was alone on the land." Jesus watches them and sees that they are struggling with the oars because the wind is against them. So Jesus decides He will test their faith and He walks out on the water with the wind against Him and stands on the water by the boat. The disciples saw Him and they thought He was a ghost and they were terrified. Immediately, Jesus spoke to them  and said," Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid." Then He got into the boat with them and the wind stopped and they were astonished.
 What is even more significant about this story is that early the same day Jesus' had multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish to feed  thousands of people. I mean how many people do you know who can do that? Only God could do that! Here they were several hours later astonished that Jesus could walk on water and stand there in front of them. Verse 52 says," they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened." It seems sad to me that their hearts were hardened. I mean these were the men that had been following Him for awhile now, they had witnessed other miracles and yet they had forgotten what Jesus could do.
 Two things I take away from this. One how easily I forget what Jesus is capable of doing. I forget what He has brought me through and I forget to notice Him at work in my everyday life. I so easily get caught up in the everyday life, that I do not always see the miracles around me!
 The second thing that I take away from this is when the storms of life come, and they sure do come, I forget that Jesus is right there. The storm is blowing all around me and I wonder "where are you Jesus?" And all the time He is right there and when He speaks to me and I see Him, the storm seems to settle. Maybe it is still blowing around on the outside, but on the inside there is peace. There is peace because He is there! Because    Jesus commands the storm and there is no safer place to be in the middle of a storm then with the One who is controlling it!