Remaining Calm Is Not Pretending the Storm Is Not Real
Remaining Calm Is Not Pretending the Storm Is Not Real
Can I be honest with you? I used to think staying calm in a hard season meant acting like it did not hurt. Smile. Say “I’m blessed.” Change the subject when somebody asked how I really was. I called that faith. It was not faith. It was me, performing peace I did not have, while the water kept rising around my ankles.
Then I went back to the boat.
In Mark 4, the storm is not a metaphor. The waves are real, the wind is real, and the disciples are genuinely afraid they are about to go under. And Jesus is asleep. I have read that story so many times, but one day it landed differently. Jesus was not calm because He was pretending the storm was small. He was calm because He knew the storm did not have the final say. Same boat. Same weather. The difference was never the storm. The difference was knowing Who was in it with them.
That is what remaining calm actually is. It is not denial dressed up in church clothes. Calm says, this is real, and it hurts, and I am scared some days, and still, I know Whose I am. A storm is not proof that God left you. It is not punishment for not praying hard enough or believing well enough. Scripture says these trials produce patience and endurance in us (James 1), the kind of roots you cannot grow in easy weather. Some things only grow in the rain.
So what does “be still” look like on an ordinary hard day? It looks smaller than we think. It looks like praying one honest sentence instead of a polished one. Lord, I am tired, and I am not okay today, and I am still Yours. It looks like not making a permanent decision at midnight in the middle of the panic. It looks like telling one safe person the truth instead of carrying it alone and calling that strength. It looks like breathing, eating, resting, and letting tomorrow’s part of the problem wait until tomorrow.
I do not say any of this as somebody watching your storm from the shore. I have sat in my own boat with the water coming in, wondering if God had forgotten my name. He had not. And He has not forgotten yours.
I taught on this in Part 1 of my Navigating the Storms of Life series, Remaining Calm In The Storm, and I would love for you to sit with it this week:
Watch Part 1 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdHQWGQa6G0
The waves may be real, sis. But so is the One in the boat with you. And He is not panicking.
Before you go.
If you’re a woman reading this and your heart is longing for community, women who will build you up, encourage you, and guide you as you grow, you don’t have to walk this out alone. Come sit with us in Warriors of Grace, our women’s ministry, where women are forged to become disciples of Christ. We would love to have you.
And if you’re a brother who has been reading along, you are welcome at this table, truly. This space is a women’s ministry, but we would be glad to point you toward Pilot Your Faith Ministry, a men’s ministry we recommend, where you can be encouraged and built up the same way. Just reach out and ask.