Who is this???

 Hi friends,

I think sometimes there is a danger that the longer we follow Christ, and the more familiar we are with Scripture, we may lose some of our awe and wonder at the things Jesus did as recorded in the Gospels. One example of this is the account of Jesus rebuking the storm when the disciples were terrified that they would perish due to the fierce wind and waves crashing into their boat. In a situation of great danger, Jesus not only was able to sleep, but also spoke with such authority to the wind and the waves that they immediately obeyed him.

Can you imagine the awe and astonishment that the disciples must have felt at that moment? But here's the interesting thing: Jesus asked them "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" It seems that he expected them to expect him for miraculous intervention and protection. His power and authority over nature shouldn't have come as a surprise but as an expected result of faith. We can see in the disciples' response that they hadn't quite figured out who Jesus was yet. They knew him as a rabbi who taught with wisdom and authority. They knew him as a healer who made the lame walk. They knew him as one who could feed the multitudes with a few loaves and fish. They knew him as one with authority over demons, who cast them out with a word. But in the face of his power over the storm, they ask, "Who is this?"

Even though most of us haven't been in a physical boat which was in danger of sinking, I'm sure we can think of times when we felt in danger, or overwhelmed by a storm in our lives. We may know Jesus as our teacher, our healer, our provider and our deliverer, but there are always more ways in which Jesus wants to reveal himself to us. It may be that we feel overwhelmed by the storms we face in life right now and we are afraid, and wonder where God is in all of this. Has he fallen asleep? Does he care? We know the answer to these questions when we look at Jesus. In the midst of the storm, Jesus wants to demonstrate his power and love to us in new ways. He may calm the storm swirling around us, or he may calm the storm within us, but let's not doubt that he has the power to calm the storms. 

I created a background with acrylic paints on this page and used Peace be Still to stamp the waves, wind and boat (I stamped the boat on watercolour card then coloured and cut it out and stuck it over the painted and stamped background). I used the new Lollipop Alpha to stamp the question, and stamped the scripture verse stamp from Peace be Still underneath. Here are the sets I used:

Let's continue to look at Jesus with awe and wonder, believing that he has the power and authority to calm whatever storm we may be facing, and knowing that he is in the boat with us.

Be blessed...

x Amy x