Whew, the last few months have been busy for me and my family. If you have been praying for us after the loss of my Papa, please know that we are so grateful for the prayers and the support that we have received! I know we still have a long time before things feel normal again but having such a large support system behind us, lifting us up in prayer and sending flowers and food, makes it slightly bearable. Papa was a very loved man and he will be dearly missed.
However, during this time of suffering and loss in my family, the Lord has been so good to me. In a time that I thought would be so hard for me to hold on to my faith and I would let my stress get the best of me, God has held me closer to Himself than I could’ve ever gotten on my own. Papa’s passing has allowed a greater opportunity for my family to talk about what we believe. About death, about God, about suffering, about medical advancements. We have suffered a great loss but we have also been provided with a wonderful presence of peace that only comes from the Prince of Peace.
DEDICATION:
I can remember during one of my years in school having to write a one-page essay that I did not want to write. I came home from school that day and walked next door to my grandparents’ house and was telling Papa how much I hate writing. I went on and on about how “dumb” it is to write about things that no one cares about because it just takes up everyone’s time. Papa just sat there and listened like he always did. Then he said, “You’re going to write this paper. But when you finish, I want to be the first to read it.” So I went home to start writing. I don’t remember what it was about or how old I was at the time, I just remember getting finished, taking it to Papa, and him saying, “Wow, you can really write! Keep writing so that you will be able to tell your story and point people to greater things.” At the time, I thought he was just being nice and giving me grandfatherly wisdom. But after hearing that, I began to enjoy writing. I began to see what Papa was saying about telling my story and pointing people to great things.
This is why I want to dedicate this study to my Papa Ernie: the man who stirred up a passion for writing in my heart. He wanted me to use writing to paint the bigger picture for people. The bigger picture of life, the bigger picture of my story, the bigger picture of the world, the bigger picture of the Gospel. I hope to one day become the writer he always knew I could be.
THE STUDY:
I often lose sight of the fact that our God is a miracle-working God. I can easily think of Him as a King or higher power who receives glory and praise but I don’t really understand why He deserves them. Then I am reminded of stories like Matthew 8:23-27 and think, “Oh…that’s why.” He is Creator and Controller of the universe. Every human’s breath, every bird’s chirp, every dog’s bark is under His control. He makes the sun rise and set, He makes the wind blow, He puts the stars in the sky, and He makes trees and flowers grow.
God doesn’t just want a relationship with me because He knows what’s best for me. God wants a relationship with me because He IS what’s best for me. Any storm in my life, He alone can settle. If I have faith enough to submit the storms in my life to Him, He tells them, “Peace, be still!”
As I have studied this passage, I have learned a lot about the character of Jesus, the character of the disciples, and the character of nature. I wanted to share some of my thoughts about it with y’all and decided that just doing one blog post would be WAY too long so I have split the study up over 4 main points. Each point will get its own week on the blog and you can see a schedule below. I’m so excited to get started on this and I hope you are too!
SCHEDULE:
June 30 – Follow Him (Main Point #1)
July 9 – The Storm (Main Point #2)
July 16 – Fear vs. Faith (Main Point #3)
July 23 – Creator and Ruler (Main Point #4)
July 30 – Closing Remarks (pretty self-explanatory)
lightwalk 