If you’ve known me or hung around The Messy Mingling long enough, you know that I like order. I like my house clean, pillows coiffed, and fingerprints cleaned from the fridge doors. You’ve made my day if there are vacuum lines in the carpet upstairs. I just do better when things are neat and tidy. I have been like this for as long as I can remember. My family likes to joke about the time I was about 3 years old and I put a bunch of snails in a perfect line. If one got out of place, I quickly put it back and gave it a scolding.

Order. It’s where I thrive.

I keep waiting for the long summer days where we don’t know what time or day it is and have nothing to do but swim, eat, and play video games. We shot out of the summer gates into a slew of goings-on after a manic May. This wasn’t intentional. Usually, I don’t plan much for our summers. I like to keep it low-key since the school year if full. However, this year feels different. Add a house flood on top of it all and chaos has swept in and almost swallowed us whole.

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!”Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41

The waves were all-encompassing. The storm was going to overtake the boat and the disciples knew it. Fear and chaos ruled their thoughts and hearts. They didn’t know what to do and I am sure they were thinking un-Christianly thoughts about Jesus who was snoozing through it all.

But Jesus.

Jesus was asleep because He knew the chaos wouldn’t envelope them. He was calm because He knew the storm didn’t have as much power as the disciples were giving it. He was confident they were going to see this through to the other side.

We, too, go through our own storms; our own chaos. We can’t control when it is going to hit or how hard. Fear rushes in and stress takes over. If you’re like me, you try to find control where you can when you can only amplifying the chaos. All the while, Jesus is telling us not to fear and not to stress out. He’s got this. 

What do you do when life is not easy?

What is your reaction when the storm hits?

I try to manage and control the chaos. I also give myself little pep-talks. I tell myself that this chaos won’t last long; life is smooth sailing so just hang on a second and it will pass. What I’ve come to realize, is that life is chaotic. Yes, there are seasons where the seas are tranquil but, the storms still come.

Instead of sitting in the chaos and allowing myself to be all-in in that moment, I am fretting and freaking out wondering why Jesus is asleep. I ignore the center of the storm and reach for the shore where it’s safe. But Jesus tells me not to be afraid and to have faith in Him.

No matter what comes my way, my confidence is in Him. Jesus is worthy to be trusted because He is trustworthy. Even when things don’t work out the way I have written the script in my head, He is still worthy to be trusted. He gets me to the shore safely every time. Every time. No matter what the journey looks like to get there, He is right by my side calming the storm as I drive through it.

We try to outrun the storm. We reach for the shore and don’t press into the difficult. We look for the peace and try to create it instead of seeing the challenge as an opportunity. 

Chaos is the name of the game right now and I am all-in. There is something for me to learn in this season; a time for growth. I need to be stretched and my anxiety levels need to chill out. It is okay to have some walls taken out, to be displaced for a little while, and for the pillows to be in the wrong place on the couch. I will survive and come out unscathed on the other side. Jesus is walking alongside me calming my storm. I only need to have a little faith.

Love & Blessings,

Meg