If you want to walk on water …..

We are a family who reads and have bookcases filled to the brim with books all over the house. I happened to be looking at one of these bookcases the other day and came across a book that I read years ago: if you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat, by John Ortberg.

I was inspired. I’ve been searching for meaning, some reason why God has allowed my life to be taken and changed by my illness. I was concentrating on the negatives, ignoring the blessings. I was doing a Peter, concentrating on the wind rather than Jesus standing in front of me. I was living in fear rather than in faith.

We weren’t created to live in fear. But sometimes that is all we live in, especially when we hit rock bottom.

There’s this song that I love called Strong Enough, by Matthew West. In the second verse he says,

Well, maybe
Maybe that’s the point
To reach the point of giving up

Cause when I’m finally
Finally at rock bottom
Well, that’s when I start looking up
And reaching out

And I love that, because it ties in beautifully with the story of Peter walking on water. The minute things started to go wrong and he started to sink was the minute he called out to Jesus.

Living in faith isn’t always a huge show. It isn’t always uprooting yourself, or doing something drastic. Sometimes it is sitting back and trusting that Jesus has walked on water and calmed storms before and that He died on the cross for us, and knowing that He would gladly do it all again. Sometimes it looks like hitting rock bottom and looking up, because up is the only way out. Sometimes it is stepping out onto the water and trusting that Jesus will catch you when you start to sink. But you won’t ever know if you can walk on water, if you don’t get out of the boat.

Now is our time to step out in faith and trust that what is happening in our lives is all a part of God’s plan. Sometimes the only way to live through the storm is to do so in faith, trusting that, no matter how long the rain falls and the wind howls, it is a part of the greater plan and that God will calm the waves one day.

How will you be stepping out in faith this week?