On Sunday, something Dr Y said during our sermon really struck me. The sermon was entitled "Jesus is always with you" and it was based on Mark 4:35-41, where Jesus calmed a storm while on a boat and His disciples were amazed. This story was something I hadn't really put much thought into even though I've heard it countless times, but Dr Y related the episode to modern context which was very insightful. He related the storm to our own personal storms that we may face in life, and said this one sentence: The disciples did not have any reason to be caught in a storm; many times we face our own storms that come about without any reason.

That was part of the most important lesson I took away from the sermon. Yes, we do face our own storms, and there are always instances where we ask, "Why me?" It's in such times we question God, and by doing so, we question our own faith as well as God's sovereignty. A lot of times we don't deserve to face such difficult situations/problems. A lot of times we think we deserve better because we've been good. But did God ever set a prerequisite for having storms in our lives? No, He never said "If you don't believe in me, your life will be terrible". Neither did he say "If you do believe in me, your life will be great and smooth-sailing". God lets these storms come to us because these are the best times for our faith to be tested and strengthened. In fact, God told us that since we are believers we should expect even more storms to come by, especially for our faith. (Matthew 5:10) But His reward waits for us in heaven when we persevere under the weight of all these hardships.

In that incident, Jesus was sleeping soundly on the boat even though His disciples were probably frantically trying to regain control of it over the storm. Why? Because Jesus had perfect and complete faith in His Father to keep them safe. There was no need to worry about drowning or tipping over. When His disciples woke Him up, Jesus commanded the wind and rain to "(keep) peace" and "be still". As Dr Y mentioned, that is akin to God telling us in the midst of hardships to remain peaceful and still. If we have faith in God and His sovereignty, there is no need to be afraid, and there is no need to panic. We can be rest assured that God is in complete control. Hell, even if we tried to run away from His control we can't. Our omniscient God sees the bigger picture in all our lives; we may think that going that way is the easiest and best way to go, but for sure God always knows that there are better ways for us to get the most out of the situations we're in.

Do we give God full control over all areas of our lives? Is He the prime consultant when it comes to making any decisions? I hope this is an encouragement to all that God sees and hears us, and that we are in His hands. When storms come, odds are God is working even when it may not seem like it. So just let go, and let God.