Have you ever felt like life is getting out of control?  You know what I mean.  You committed to something, but now, you just can’t make it happen.  You don’t want to tell anyone, but you know that you can’t fulfill what you promised.

Or perhaps, you put on this mask that everything is going great.  Your Instagram pix are all strategically designed to make you look vulnerable, but it’s your 8th take and you feel horrible inside.

Life is not always easy.  Life is hard.  Does it have to be that way?

Why does life have to be hard if you love Jesus and He loves you?

I’ll be honest, I don’t love all of the things that Jesus does right away.  It took me a long time to be able to see past my circumstances.  He consistently takes bad things in my life and makes them great.  But I can tell you, even knowing that, my life still sometimes feel like it’s out of control.

A Storm Life

Sometimes our lives can look like storms.  They can look like everything is falling apart.  What’s worse is when they feel like they are.  You know what I mean. Sometimes, they just feel out of control.

It’s helpful for me when I think about Jesus and His disciples on the boat in the storm.  Do you know that story?  It’s the one where He is on a boat with his closets friends and there is a major storm.  They all think they are going to die and to make things worse, they find Jesus sleeping.  Literally sleeping in the boat.  What is that about?

Jesus knew that all would be OK.  He knew His purpose and that it was not over yet.

Jesus was sleeping.  He was at peace when life was out of control.  When his buddies found Him, they were mad.  He told them to relax and then stood up and told the storm to calm down too.  It did.  That was awesome.  He literally told weather to do something, and it obeyed.  You see, Jesus was at peace, because He was in control.

But His best friends took Him for not caring.  You see,

the optics of peace are apathy.  When you are at peace, it can look as if you don’t care.

But I want you to be at peace.  I want you to know Jesus will calm your storm.

3 steps to calm the storm.

There is a great proverb that helps us with this one.

Proverbs 27:19.  It says,  “as water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.”

Let me break it down.

Water acts like a mirror.  You get that. To go further, your life will show other people what you value.  If you life is full of avoiding people, it reveals that your heart could have  hate, or fear.  If you life is too busy, it shows people that busy-ness is more important then people to your heart.

When your life is like a storm, it makes it hard for people to see the reflection of Jesus in it.  But when it is calms down, even with great adventure, people can see Jesus’ life in yours.

So here are 3 steps you can use to get your life to reflect your Jesus.

1- Find Jesus in your Boat

Jesus is in your day.  He is in your life.  He is in your mess.  In fact, when you come to Him in faith, He takes your mess and makes it His very own.  It’s awesome.  Your job is to find Him in your life.  Find Him in your boat.  Look for where Jesus is in your life, and move to step 2.

2 – Express your love to Him

Don’t just find him in your life, in your boat, but tell Him you love Him.  Don’t just tell Him that your think He doesn’t care, but ask Him what to do.  That’s different.  I’m not saying that you can’t be honest with Him, He loves that, but start to look at your heart and find your truly honest thoughts. You love Him more than you don’t like what He’s doing.

3 – Calm the Storm WITH Him

Don’t try to simply ask Him to calm the storm.  But offer to be part of the solution.  He loves to see us try.  He absolutely loves it.  Just like any good friend, when we work with them, trust is built.  So let Him show you how to do it, cause He will calm the storm of your life… with you. 🙂

 

When the storm calms, and water of your life get’s still, people can see Jesus in you.  You were made in His image, and I want you to let others see how amazing you are.