"And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased." (Matthew 14:32)
The storms of my life have come in two ways. First, like in Matthew 14:22-33, when the disciples were on a stormy sea being tossed by winds and waves. In that storm Jesus walked to them on water and said, "it's Me", after the disciples had cried out in fear of a ghost. Peter leapt out of the boat to walk to Jesus on water but when he looked down at his own progress, he began to sink. He cried out, "Lord save me!". Jesus and Peter clasped hands and walked to the boat and got in. Then the winds ceased.
In one particular life-storm of mine, Jesus said "come". I tried to walk to Him on my own terms but when I looked down from the stellar heights of my pride, I was sinking in an ocean of stormy waters. By Grace, I grasped Jesus' hand. The most astounding thing about that particular storm was the length and extremity of it. Thankfully, God's love didn't compromise by giving me less time or severity than I needed to become His.
Dear ones, however the storms come to you, if you haven't yet seen yourself sinking in your own efforts, I urge you to look up at the Savior and grasp His hand. But either way, as I said, God will not compromise His love by giving His people less than they need to become His.
To 'become His' means to sail with Jesus toward port; to come "to the unity of the faith, to the full knowledge of the Son of God, to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13) Jesus didn't promise safety against storms but in and through storms, all the way to a safe landing.
