Tag: storm

Peace, Be Still – Blog and Podcast

June 24, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

Sometimes He calms the storm; sometimes He speaks in the storm. — *Sometimes our Lord speaks to the storm. Sometimes He speaks to us through the storm.*

An old story circulates throughout Southeast Kansas about a family that lived on the frontier in the days immediately after the Civil War. The family, named Bender, were infamous. They lived on a major trail that connected the Frontier to Indian Territory and took in boarders, some of which they robbed and murdered. When exposed, they slipped out of Kansas and onto Indian lands without ever getting caught. Their misdeeds were so notorious that they were mentioned in a novel of Rose Wilder Lane.

Father Paul Ponziglione, a Jesuit missionary, once encountered that family at their inn. The Benders were hospitable, offered food and a place to lay his head at a reasonable price. The weather was turning, and a storm threatened from the horizon. Thunder rolled across the sky, sounding like a barrel rolling off a moving wagon. The night promised to be frightful. At first, he agreed, for home was a day’s journey away. As the storm brewed, a voice whispered in his heart: “Leave this place. It is not safe.”

Embarrassed, the priest made his apologies and steered his covered wagon with its team of oxen up the road. An hour or so later, he made his way off the road and into a secluded grove, out of sight of the Bender family. Later, when recounting this story for a historian, he testified that he knew the voice he heard was the voice of God.

It is not always easy to hear the voice of God, especially in the midst of a storm, but it is possible if we train our hearts to listen. We read of a storm in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4. Jesus and His disciples were on the sea of Galilee when a storm blew in. Some of the disciples were professional fishermen, from a long line of fishermen, and they were scared for their lives. The shallow-drafted, flat-bottom boat was nearly swamped. They cried out to Jesus, who was sleeping near the stern. With the words, “Peace, be still,” he calmed the stormy sea.

God does not always calm the storm when we cry out. Sometimes, he wishes to speak to us through the storm, as he did to Elijah in 1 Kings 19:11-13. God’s voice is often heard in the midst of a storm. In my own life, I often hear him best when I have taken refuge from a storm, holed-up in a shelter of my own making, on a sea with fishermen who are in uncharted waters, or flat on my back, with nowhere else to turn but to the heavens. I cry out in desperation to God, “Please, Father, calm the storm before I am drowned.”

In the midst of every storm, without fail I hear my Savior speaking, “Peace be still.” In. Every. Single. Storm. I hear His precious voice.

Sometimes He says them to the storm. Other times, He says them to me.

“Steve, peace… Be still,” he says. Upon hearing His words, I no longer worry about the storm that rages around me.

_______

Sheltered in the Arms of God

So let the storms rage high
The dark clouds rise
They don’t worry me
For I’m sheltered safe within the arms of God

He walks with me
And naught of earth shall harm me
For I’m sheltered in the arms of God

-Jimmie Davis and Dottie Rambo

Fear Not 365 – It is I

January 29, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

Sometimes, we just don’t get it. We simply cannot see God at work. Peter and the disciples couldn’t. The night is dark. A storm moves in. The winds blow. The sea rocks. The boat is pitched. They see a ghost, or so they think.

I must remind you, many of these disciples are seasoned fishermen, and grew up on the sea. The others, are no strangers to the sea. They have seen everything, but they have never seen anyone walking on the water. No wonder they think it is a ghost.

What they see, of course, is no ghost, rather it is Jesus walking across the surface of the stormy water, three or four miles from shore. Perceiving their apprehension, he calls to them,

“Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

The disciples, though, are so caught up in the darkness and stormy night, that they do not recognize their Lord.

Like the disciples on that night, we live in a dark world. Storms light the sky. Winds blow in. Our world is rocked. Our lives are pitched about. Sometimes we do not recognize that Jesus is walking in our midst. He is right there, in the middle of the storm, reaching out to us and saying,

“Take courage, for it is I. Fear Not!”

The Blessings of a Storm

August 27, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

I did not know His love before,

The way I know it now.

I could not see my need for Him,

My pride would not allow.

I had it all, without a care,

The “self-sufficient” lie.

My path was smooth, my sea was still,

Not a cloud was in my sky.
I thought I knew His love for me,

I thought I’d seen His grace,

I thought I did not need to grow,

I thought I’d found my place.

But when the way grew rough and dark,

The storm clouds quickly rolled;

The waves began to rock my ship,

My anchor would not hold.
The ship that I had built myself

Was made of foolish pride.

It fell apart and left me bare,

With nowhere else to hide.

I had no strength or faith to face

The trials that lay ahead,

And so I simply prayed to Him

And bowed my weary head.

His loving arms enveloped me,

And then He helped me stand.

He said, “You still must face this storm,

But I will hold your hand.”

So through the dark and lonely night

He guided me through pain.

I could not see the light of day

Or when the storm might wane.
Yet through the aches and endless tears,

My faith began to grow.

I could not see it at the time,

But my light began to glow.

I saw God’s love in brand new light,

His grace and mercy, too.

For only when all self was gone

Could Jesus’ love shine through.
It was not easy in the storm,

I sometimes wondered, “Why?”

At times I thought, “I can’t go on.”

I’d hurt and doubt and cry.

But Jesus never left my side,

He guided me each day.

Through pain and strife,

Through fire and flood,

He helped me all the way.

And now I see as never before

How great His love can be.

How in my weakness He is strong,

How Jesus cares for me!

He worked it all out for my good,

Although the way was rough.

He only sent what I could bear,

And then He cried, “Enough!”
He raised His hand and said, “Be still!”

He made the storm clouds cease.

He opened up the gates of joy

And flooded me with peace.

I see His face now clearer still,

I felt His presence strong.

I found anew His faithfulness,

He never did me wrong.
Now I know more storms will come,

But only for my good,

For pain and tears have helped me grow

As naught else ever could.

I still have so much more to learn

As Jesus works in me;

If in the storm I’ll love Him more,

That’s where I want to be.
Written By:

Wendy Greiner Lefko

On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.”

Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him.

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.

And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are preparing?”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

Mark 4:35-41