Proverbs 3:25-26, New King James Version

"Do not be afraid of sudden terror, or of the ruin of the wicked; for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught". 

Jesus Calm The Storm: Part One

We have been doing a study on Philemon in Church. I am intrigued by this short book. While listening to Pastor Chris on Sunday morning, it helped guide me to the study of Jesus calming the storm. I can relate not just to the parable of the storm, but the storm, crisis or trials in my own life.

In my own life I have struggled with anxiety, depression, suicide and trauma. My life has not been easy. I have gone through some crisis in my childhood, my teen years and my motherhood years. The rough waters in my life have been calmed by Jesus walking beside me. I denied Him many times and took on my own way of dealing with the pain of the situation.

Throughout my childhood I tried to take the pain on my own. When I was a child at the age of six to nine, I was being molested by a babysitter. At the age of seven, I watched a murder next to our playground where we lived. My dad was physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive. Going into 5th grade we then moved back to Ohio, and I thought about how life would change for me. The only thing that changed is the babysitter didn’t move with us and now all four of us kids had become abusive to each other and our parents. As we got older, I felt the same thing as many of you deal with daily, being bullied. I had no safe place to land except in youth groups and church. The older I got the more violent myself and my family got. You could find me at the corner of the school’s property smoking a cigarette and waiting to fight someone. I was mean, had a really foul mouth and I knew how to fight. At some point in the youth group, we watched a movie about teenagers drinking and driving. At the end of he movie, they were in a tragic crash. The movie showed their car on a pillar of rocks over a fiery hell. That was the moment I realized I can’t deny Him or I would spend eternity in a fiery hell with all my troubles intensified by millions. I believed that God was speaking to me as a teenager.

When I turned eighteen, I started to take control of my own life. Still, with God only in the rear-view mirror. When I had my boys, I started to go to church again. The boys and I went to a few different ones until we landed in a church. We stayed there for a bit over fourteen years. We stayed even though I felt alone there. It took my boys to help us make the change we needed. When we landed here at Everyone’s Welcome Church (EWC) my boys, my husband and I were instantly family here. See God had a plan and I chose to ignore it. I am unwilling to change because I got comfortable. He kept pulling me and I didn’t want to listen. There is a reason I am telling you this. He carries us through each and every step. He feels every abuse we go through except intensified because He is our creator, the real Father to each of us. God does not want us to be fearful when you face a crisis. He wants you to be confident. 

Please come back next week to read, “Jesus Calm The Storm,” Part Two.