The Bargain (Day 3 from Cleansing Thoughts)

    As I look back on my life, I realize I got the better part of that bargain. There have been many times in these in these past twenty years that the seas became fearful, but like Peter, I have learned to step out of the boat and call upon the name of the Lord. I am deeply grateful for the guiding hand of God that saw my husband through a successful surgery, and I am eternally grateful to a God who exchanges bargains for commitments.

   I have had the opportunity to visit Israel twice, and one of the most astonishing places I got to see was the Sea of Galilee. In my mind. I had pictures this as a great body of water like the Mediterranean or the Dead Sea, but much to my surprise, it is a lake only 13 miles long and 7 miles wide and has a froth of about 157 feet at its deepest point. Both times I was there, the sea was was as calm as glass, but our guide explained that because it was 685 feet below sea level and virtually surrounded by cliffs and hills, it was subject to sudden and server weather changes as the cool air from the hills clashed with the warm moist air of the water. As we crossed to the other side, my mind drifted as the water gently splashed on the sides of our boat, and I could almost hear Jesus speaking to the wind and claiming the waters. The next morning , as I stood on the balcony of my hotel room and watched the sun come up on the water, I could hear the Lord whisper into my heart, “Weeping mr endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” )Psalm 30:5, NKJV). I knew instinctively there would never be a storm in my life that He could not just speak the Word and bring peace to my heart, 

   My friend, I do not know what stormy trials of life you are facing right now, but whatever your circumstances when you reach your place of Sheol and there is nowhere else to run, cry out your fear and desperation to your God, andHe will bring peace into your life if you will but keep your eyes on Him. Proverbs 3:25-26 (NKJV) tells us, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror, not of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.” Let me pray with you right now for the peace of God to calm your troubled heart, “Heavenly Father, send Your Word into the midst of this storm, and bring peace to Your child’s heart once again. Restore  to her the joy of Your salvation that her sorrow may only endure for a night. Show her the way to life everlasting that she may be the solitary one you have placed in her family to show them the way. It is in Jesus’s name, I pray.”