Peace, Be Still

I woke up at 2 this morning (It's just after 3 now) and had my first little nudge of anxiety; not the kind of anxiety that makes me want to pack up and go home but the kind that makes me wonder how on earth I'm going to last a year in a place where I don't know the language, the culture, or the people.

Then, like David had to do on a number of occasions, I quieted my soul and remembered that I'm here because God wants me here. And that's all I need to know.

The first story that popped into my mind when I was laying awake in bed early this morning was when Jesus calmed the storm. Jesus and the Disciples were traveling by boat when a "furious squall" broke out. The Disciples were panicked and anxiety-ridden and grew even more upset when they saw that Jesus was sleeping. How could He sleep when they were terrified of dying? "Don't you care if we drown?" they asked Him angrily. That was their way of asking Jesus to make it stop. And He did. But then He said this: "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

Why am I so afraid? Have I lost sight of the fact that God is the one who called me here? Where is my faith to believe that He will quiet the storms of my soul and bring me to a place of safety like He did  the Disciples?

It's interesting to me that, even though Jesus was present with the Disciples, they still experienced storms. As we've heard repeated millions of times, accepting Christ does not mean that we will live a trouble-free life. But what it does mean is that even in the midst of the storms, He will be right there with us to give us peace. And then He will bring us safely to the other side.