He had just healed a man with leprosy, then a guy’s servant, then healed a bunch of other people from sickness and demon possession. There was a lot going on. This was all in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 8. Jesus had to be physically exhausted. He climbed into the boat and went right to sleep. Just after He and the disciples got on board, the storm started brewing. The wind was blowing, the rain pounding, and waves jumping over the boat. The disciples began to mildly freak out.  

Rushing to Jesus’ mattress, they scream for Him to save them from their impending doom. He was sleeping.  

Have you ever felt like Jesus was sleeping? Unaware of what you are going through? Your wind and water are all over the place, but it feels like He is silent?  

Me too.  

It is a tricky place to be, a time when our faith has to pick a lane. Do we trust Him, or do we not?  

I have prayed for something specific for more than a year and a half now. Something easily answerable. Yet I feel like if I look across the boat, I will find Jesus still napping. 

It’s during this time I have to decide whether I believe He will do *what* needs to be done *when* He knows it needs to be done, or if I believe I have been forgotten.   

This isn’t easy, and it’s not fun, but sometimes it’s good and necessary for our faith to have to stand exposed, so to speak, to see what we really believe. No false pretenses, no wishy-washy church words said without meaning. We get to this stormy place, and we decide if we trust Him as the One who can save us or if we don’t.  

The disciples knew who to go to. They ran to Jesus, He got up and stopped the storm. But they had their doubts. Jesus knew it, and He told them as much, asking them why they were so afraid.  

I’m certain Jesus is asking me the same thing right now. “Jennifer, why are you so afraid?” The truth is, I don’t know. I have seen Jesus come through for me over and over again, and I have no reason at all to think He would take a break. There are some questions I need to ask myself to get my mind back where it needs to be.

If I believe all of these things, I can have peace, believing that God will work things out in His own way and His own timing. It might be something I have to realign my soul to every single day, until He works things out His way, but for the peace that comes with it, I will gladly confirm my yeses to these questions as often as I need to. 

Needless to say, Jesus calmed the disciples’ storm by simply speaking. He took care of it, and all was well, amazing these guys who had just seen Him heal a gazillion people right before this. Over and over He proves how He is the One we can trust, and somehow, we forget and then continue to be amazed when He comes through.  

He will take care of me. He will take care of you. Let’s trust Him. 

“When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” Psalm 56:3