Even though this devotional is being put out after noon today, and not 7am, I have a good reason and it is not because I just wanted to sleep in, lol. Throughout the night and most of today my family has been stricken with some sort of stomach bug, and it is ugly. This type of “storm” is not really something unexpected, especially with all that we have been going through recently. Over the past few weeks our life has gone more sideways than usual. We always seem to be going through something, but one thing is for sure, every struggle leads us to rely on our Heavenly Father in a deeper, and at times a more desperate way. Everyone will face various kinds of “storms” in life. For my family, we can say that our belief system is based on the truth found in God’s word. We know that He is walking with us through whatever we face. Some storms may shipwreck others, for us at times they may leave us a little frustrated, depressed, maybe even overwhelmed to despair, but it is by our faith in what God has brought us through in the past that causes us to stay encouraged to trust in Him, rely on Him, and cling to Him in the present. We keep looking forward to having Him fulfill His promises found in the scriptures. I often reflect on what is written in *Mark 4:36 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. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 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 perishing?” 39 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. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”* How often during our trials do we approach God with the same frustrations and accusations as the men who walked with Jesus did? We ask questions like, “Why did you allow this to happen?” or “When will all of this end?” or “I don’t think you understand God how difficult this is” or “I just cannot understand why you would do this to me?” After the disciples realized the storm was beyond their control, that they tried their best to battle the winds and the water, they finally decided to awaken their master. I wish I could say that faith is always my first response, but to be completely truthful, most times it’s not, especially when the storm is raging on every side. The one verse that many overlook is prior to the storm and Jesus calming it found in *Mark 4:35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.”* Jesus did not say let us go half way and sink. He said “Let us cross over to the other side.” God understands that our first reaction is fear in bad situations because many times we forget that He is here to help, but as we mature in our walk with Him, our approach to storms change when our faith in Him is deepened because we are secure in His Word. pastord.blog