What is your current storm? What is that circumstance that keeps overwhelming you? That situation that feels like it keeps flooding your boat or potentially drowning you? This
can be something big, or small. It could be something you’ve had to face today… over the past week or months, or even something you’ve been facing for years. What is your storm?

Who is in your boat? Who are the people you surround yourself with? Name 3-5 of the people you spend the most time with. Are you all travelling in the same direction (do they support you in your walk with Christ?) or are they arguing with you about how to steer the boat? (Do they bring you down, are a bad influence on you, or lead you into a more negative outlook on life?).

Is Jesus in your boat? Are you spending time with the One who knows the waters? He knows the way, He owns the boat, He has the map. Are you asking Him for guidance? Are you asking Him to teach you how to control the boat in rough waters? You can have all the right people in your boat – but if Jesus isn’t in your boat, you won’t be able to face the storms.

How are you reacting to your storm? In the story of Jesus calming the storm in the Gospel of Mark, when the disciples woke Jesus up, He responded, “Do you still have no faith?” At first this was jarring to me… doesn’t He understand they are about to drown? But then I realized it wasn’t because they woke Jesus up… it was how. They said, “Do you not care?!”…

Our initial reaction to our storm might be to blame God and assume He doesn’t care about us but we need to remember that Jesus is in our boat. He is in the storm with us and we can approach Him. We can ask Jesus for help through prayer. Jesus may calm the storm for us, or He may just help us ride the waves better until the storm passes. A calm sea never made a skilled sailor – we will have trouble in this world. Once this storm passes, we will face another one. It is better to learn how to sail through the storms so you are stronger and more skilled when you face the next one.

Are you accessing Jesus’ peace? Are you demanding Jesus to end your struggle or are you asking Him to help you navigate through it with a good heart attitude? In the midst of the storm, Jesus was modeling a position of rest. He was modeling peace! We have access to this same peace Jesus was experiencing in the midst of our own storms because of the Holy Spirit.

Do you know the Captain? The disciples still didn’t fully know who Jesus was. Jesus was slowly revealing Himself to them, and when they saw Him rebuke the wind and waves, they were filled with fear. Reverent fear of the Lord, seeing His power at work in our lives, gives us a glimpse at how holy, powerful, and mighty He is. Are you taking note of His presence in your day to day? Are you seeing how He calms the wind and waves in your life? Are you thanking Him and glorifying Him for all that He has done and continues to do out of His great love for you? Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. – Proverbs 9:10 (SHAUNA GOODISON)

A sailor found himself in harsh and rough waters on the sea. Survival seemed scanty… but he called on the Lord. His prayers were heard, and he found himself washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He again prayed intensely to God, to rescue him. He managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements. One day, after having wandered all around for food, he arrived home only to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rising up to the skies. Stuck with disbelief, grief, and anger, he cried out: “GOD! How could you do this to me? You saved me from the shipwreck, but only to abandon me on this island! And now you have taken away my only means of survival.”

Early next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It was a rescue ship that had come to rescue him! “How did you know I was here?” asked the man. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied! The burnt hut – which the man had considered as a tragedy and a cruel act from God turned out to be the signal, by which people could come to rescue him. Even though he had received God’s rescuing hand the first time, from the shipwreck, he needed a “repeat” intervention, to realise and deepen the awareness of the providential presence of God in his life.

What about us? Are we also in need of a “repeat” intervention from the Lord for a greater commitment and dedication to our life of faith?

When Jesus arrived at Bethsaida, people brought to Him a blind man. Jesus began the process of healing that took place in two stages. Jesus first placed His hands on him and enquired whether he saw anything. The man replied: “I see people looking like trees and walking.” Then Jesus laid His hands a second time, and he saw clearly, with his sight restored. (Mk 8: 22-26)

This two-step process of healing is a great reminder to us that Jesus was in perfect control of the healing process, and that faith in Jesus is not a one-time event; but a process that could extend to different stages, that growing in faith in Him is a gradual process.

Each of us go through situations and moments in life when we are blind, when, even with a touch of the Lord, “we see people looking like trees and walking”. Problems and difficulties often clout our vision. Experiences of an encounter with the Lord do keep our faith alive, though feeble, In all such moments, we need another “touch” from the Lord, a “repeat” intervention from Him!

As Christians, who have been “in faith” for a long time, there are possibilities when our life of faith loses its charm and charisma, when our resolutions and promises lose touch of its initial fervour and zeal, when our commitment and dedication fail to have the required enthusiasm and passion.

In all such moments of “blind moments” and “blurred vision”, we need a “repeat” intervention from the Lord! Let us therefore, allow the Lord to touch us and experience His healing grace to lead us out of blindness and blurredness into clarity of faith and trust. (FR. JIJO MANJACKAL)