Peace, Be Still.

 All through the night the winter winds howled with an intensity like I haven't heard in a while. From the warmth of my own bed I heard the familiar calls..."Maaaaama!" My two little boys who are seemingly fearless by day can be crippled in a matter of moments by the dark of night. Knowing the relentless winds weren't leaving anytime soon, I tucked myself in beside their warm bodies, assuring them that all was well. In a matter of minutes I listened as their breathing deepened, eventually falling into their usual rhythmic sleeping pattern. While the winds refused to cease.

Laying awake and listening to the chaos of the weather outside while listening to my boys sleeping peacefully beside me, I couldn't help but be reminded of the story that Matthew, Mark and Luke all told, from their shared experience with Jesus.

"After they had dismissed the crowd, they took Jesus with them, since He was already in the boat. Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped. But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, 'Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?' Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. 'Peace!' He commanded. 'Be still!' And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm." (Mark 4:36-39)

Peace be still.

I pictured what that might look like - if I stood on my front porch and hollered out, "Peace! Be still!" simply for the sake of soothing my young boys' fears. To them, the threat of that wind was very real, despite the fact that I knew otherwise. I know my words to the wind would be fruitless - they aren't obedient to my voice. Thankfully my presence with my boys alone was enough. The circumstance didn't change - their perspective and feeling of security did.

I think a relationship with Christ is similar. To know Him, to accept Him as the commander of the winds in my life changes everything. The chaos and danger still threaten from every side - and while life and its circumstances can still be difficult, there's a certain REST, a certain PEACE and COMFORT that is found in the midst of it.

"You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance." (Psalm 32:7)

There's a difference between religion and a relationship. Religion demands that I follow laws in order to "be good", in order to earn God's favor as well as an eternity in heaven; a relationship is made in receiving God's good grace, and in understanding there's nothing I can do on my own outside of that grace. A relationship produces true change that comes from the heart; from an overflow of thanksgiving for WHO God is. Anyone can produce outward acts, but only God can truly change the heart.

"For by grace have you been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8,9)

Grace, and grace alone.

In knowing Him, my circumstances haven't changed. I have nothing to boast of. Struggle with things on this earth will continually exist. The fierce winds of life will undoubtedly come and go. What HAS changed is my perspective of them. And my heart towards them. My fear of the winds is not as intense - because I know and have learned to trust the wind-maker.