Suffering

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
—1 Peter 4:12-14, 16
What an awesome scripture. I woke in pain, to me it was unbearable, and it took all I had in me to get sit up as I tried to make it to the bathroom. I wondered how did Jesus endure all the pain and suffering here on earth that was put upon him. Even though we can’t understand we can surely appreciate just how much Jesus was willing to withstand for us. We shouldn’t feel ashamed when we are put through trials, temptations and sufferings in our life if we are living these through Jesus Christ, for He will be with us as we are tested, He will pick us up and dust off the wrong doings and take all our sufferings away.
After feeding the five thousand, Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. Several hours later in the night, the disciples encounter a storm. Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. This terrifies the disciples and they think they are seeing a ghost. Jesus tells them “Take courage! It is I. don’t be afraid."
Peter replies, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." So Jesus invites Peter to come. Peter gets out of the boat and begins walking on the water toward Jesus. But when Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and sees the wind and waves, he begins to sink. Peter cries out to the Lord and Jesus immediately reaches out his hand and catches Peter. As they climb into the boat together, the storm ceases. Then the disciples worship Jesus, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

The disciples, even though they have spent much time with Jesus, don't recognize him in the storm. Find this story in the book of Matthew, chapter 14.

Sometimes we don't recognize the Lord when he comes to us in the middle of our "storms." Does this sound familiar to you? It sure does to me, about a month ago I wouldn’t of recognized Jesus if He had been sitting beside me, you ask why? Let me tell you, I was so lost in my own suffering and self pity that I couldn’t see past that. I had got so tired of people telling me things were going to be ok, how did they know, it surely wasn’t because they lived for Jesus, if they did, they weren’t showing this behavior so why would I believe anything they said. It took me having to get so low that all I wanted was to run and run till there was no turning back, sure I just wanted to die. Now I ask what would that of accomplished, sure maybe a few might miss me, but who did I need to miss me, who was I missing in my life? It wasn’t anyone here on earth, it was Jesus, and I had walked away from Him once again.

Did you notice how Peter doesn't begin to sink until he starts looking around at the wind and the waves? How his faith weakened and he took his eyes off of Jesus. The same happened to me, I lost focus, all I saw was pain and suffering, not the healing and what would lay ahead for me. I let the situation get me down, but one thing I remembered to do was to cry out to my savior, I needed Him to pick me back up and hold me. And Jesus held me tightly and has never let go.

As you will find when you read this wonderful story in the Bible the waters calmed when Jesus got in the boat. Have you allowed Him to come aboard in your life? If not I beg of you to reach out and ask Him to hold your hand now as He has mine. Your life will be so much better with Jesus in it, does it mean your ship won’t sink from time to time, no, but it does mean that Jesus won’t let you drown. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to sink just enough to feel I might drown, but I am most thankful that He pulled me back to the surface. Praise your Jesus! Amen!