Sailing

A sailor has seen calm waters with easy gentle winds that pushes his ship effortlessly across the vast ocean. He has seen the sunrise in the brisk morning air and has experienced the orange sunset as the sun fades and the light of the moon takes over. The sailor has also seen dark angry clouds with howling winds that whips his ship around in rough choppy seas, being tossed from here to there like a plastic cup on a busy highway.

Living a life as a christian is like being a sailor. You may have months of calm seas and weeks of stormy weather. It’s not about how calm or how stormy the weather is but it is about what you do, how you react and what you have  learned when you are faced with calm or stormy weather. We all would like to be the sailor who only experiences calm seas and views the sunrise and sunset everyday, but if that is all you experience how will you ever know if you have the skills to handle stormy weather? In my last blog I wrote about faith being tested and how by being tested your faith will grow and become stronger. The life of a christian is the same way. While no one ever wants stormy weather to deal with, it will happen. How we prepare and handle for it is when we are in the calmness before the storm. We need to have emergency plans in place, knowing we will experience rough weather and be ready when it comes. In Ephesians 6, God is teaching us to prepare ourselves against evil and what is to come, by putting on the whole armor of God.
Like the experienced sailor, he prepares for the storm ahead of time by making sure hatches are secured and loose items are tied up. The sailor knows, that doing this during the storm is impossible.  Likewise, we as Christians need to use the calm times to consistently stay in prayer, read God’s word and prepare for when Satan attacks us.
This year has been a year of many storms for me. I get through one and another one is right on its heels. God has graciously given me many days and months last year to prepare. As I face and endure yet another storm, I will not complain about it. Rather I will embrace them, leaning on my Faith and knowing God is always in control.

When you have made it through the storm, you will be able to feel the warm and happy feeling of victory. You will see the sun again and enjoy the calmness of the seas that comes along with it. You will have grown in your faith and come closer to the feet of our Heavenly Father. God has promised He will never give us more than we can handle. He also promised, He will never leave us in the fight alone. God gave us the power to overcome all, but we must stay faithful.

A good sailor can sail on calm seas, but a great sailor can handle the stormy oceans.

Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wile of the devil. Ephesians 6:11

Faith Brings Testing

Remember when you were in school and knew you had to study for upcoming tests? The countless hours spent studying days before along with the anxiety of wanting or needing to pass for a good grade.

Living a life of a follower of Christ, is by far the most wonderful thing I have or will ever do. Being born again and accepted into God’s family just as I am without ever having to do anything but accepting God’s wonderful Grace. Wanting to be more like Christ and trying to follow in Christ’s footsteps, is not an easy task. Having a strong Faith is not a talent, it is something that you have to work at and study for. Your faith will be tested and by testing it will become stronger.

This year in 2015, my spouse’s and myself faith has been tested over and over again. In the 21 years of marriage, I can’t remember when we have been tested as much as this year. Right now we are having to make decisions for my wife’s father who is living in an assist care living facility. His insurance has ran out and will no longer pay for his care. He is not on medicare as yet and since we are not people of wealth, we can not endure the monthly cost of keeping him there. Therefore the only option is to bring him home to our house and take care of him here. In the course of our prayers and many others from family and friends, God answered us by giving us a person (Mike) at the care facility who is stepping in and helping us trying to get my father-in-law in rolled in medicare to keep him there at the facility. While we do not have the funds to keep him there even for a week, Mike has offered to waive all fees until we find out or when medicare will step in and start paying for his care. Not all of our prayers have been answered as of yet, but we can see how God is working and prayers are being answered.

So my point to all of this is: Walking with Christ is not and will not be an easy task. You will be tested to stretch your Faith. How you prepare for the tests is by being in contact with Christ on a daily basis in prayer and also a daily bible reading. Just like testing in school. You didn’t pass tests by not studying, so likewise, you won’t grow your faith without testing.

Being tested is not a ride in the park, most times it is very hard, you feel like your up against it, you want to cry out “why me?” Hold steady, know that you are never in it alone, you are given the power to overcome through God, you will find the sunlight at the end. As you look back weeks, months, years. You will be able to see how your Faith has grown and all the prayers that have been answered along the way.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15