Abundant Gifts

Sample Newsletter 

 Welcome to

ABUNDANT GIFTS

a newsletter to help you develop

the habit of seeing every day gifts from

a lavish God

Published by Diane Eble

author of ABUNDANT GIFTS

A Daybook of Grace-Filled Devotions

( New Hope, 2004)

 It was Jesus' suggestion to get into the boat and cross the lake one evening. He settled down, head on a cushion, ready to turn in for the night.

Suddenly a fierce storm blew up around the boat.

The waves crashed around the boat, and the disciples were terrified. Someone thought to go find Jesus.

Unbelievable--there he was, asleep in this treacherous storm that was about to sink the boat. How could he sleep through a storm like this?

Ever feel that way? Like Jesus is asleep while the storm is about to sink your boat?

The disciples (and we) often interpret Jesus' sleeping as his not caring (Mark 4:38). But that's not the reason Jesus sleeps through our storms.

He can sleep because he is not worried!

He is not worried about the storm. He has perfect authority over even the wind and waves. He was always in the center of the Father's heart, and he knew that the Father was not going to let him drown in any storm! No, he had a different kind of death appointed.

So he slept through the storm, at peace. He is at peace in your storms, too, because he is perfectly in control of them. You may be worried about your situation, but Jesus is not. Jesus does not worry!

It may feel to you like he doesn't care. But he does care. He wants you to trust in his power in the midst of the storm, so that you can know the same peace he had.

It's a peace that trusts that God can calm any storm any time he wants, and if he allows it, there's a reason--and he's not going to let you drown. ("When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown" Isaiah 43:2 promises.)

If you trust this promise, you can have peace. The same peace that carried Jesus through the unbelievable suffering of the cross. Before he faced that cross, he told his disciples he was giving them his peace (John 16:33). He knew the Father had his reason for allowing him to go through the cross, he knew what it was, and he accepted it. He had peace!

Jesus is asleep in your storm because he's at peace. Want to pull up a pillow and join him as he naps?

If this seems impossible, even ridiculous, I would ask you to ponder, as Jesus did, what is the nature of faith. "Where is your faith?" he asked. If we can't trust Jesus in the storm, do we really trust him at all?

Want more? Read past issues in the archives   .