Written By: Emily Benedetto | Maui Coordinator
Photo By: James Le Roux

Matthew 8:25-27
And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” 

You may have heard this story before: the disciples and Jesus are on a boat, and there is a great storm. Jesus is sleeping away, and the disciples wake Him up in a panic, asking Him to save them. Jesus so nonchalantly rebukes the storm, and the sea goes calm. 

As humans, when faced with adversity, we often default and go into panic mode, like the disciples did, only to realize that perhaps some of our stress could’ve been avoided. Of course, sometimes the storms we go through are significant, but there isn’t one thing in my life that I have gone through and felt like God didn’t show up eventually to calm the winds and sea. 

We recently got a tsunami warning in Hawaii, with a huge unknown possibility that there could either be great consequences on the islands, or maybe there wouldn’t be. But no one knew. Sure enough, the tsunami waves came in, and the tide shift was extremely minimal, with basically no damage at all. It was a true miracle. 

So many people freaked out and sat in traffic for hours, when maybe they only needed to drive a few miles inland to be safe. This is a very real example of God miraculously calming the seas. What have you gone through in your life that you can relate to this story? 

In some of the toughest moments of my life, I’ll admit that I did panic like the disciples and act a little more dramatically than maybe I needed to. However, there are other times in my life where I learned from this story in the Bible, trusted God in the storm, and He did indeed come through and save me. 

Whether you have experienced crazy storms in the past or are going through one right now, know that God has not left you, and He is capable of calming the biggest storm. Jesus is right there, next to you, and ready to calm the seas. 

Ephesians 3:20
Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.