When the Winds of the Storm Alter Your Course

To read Part One of this series, click here.

After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there. As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus (Mark 6:53-54).

When the winds of the storm alter your course, you may be tempted to think you’ve failed.

Not only does Jesus send us into storms, but He also allows storms to change our plans. To bring us to an entirely different destination than the one originally intended.

In Mark 6, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to Bethsaida (see Mark 6:45). After an exhausting, terrifying night straining against the oars, Jesus came to them, walking on the raging sea. When they finally anchored on the other side, it was not in Bethsaida. It was in Gennesaret. The winds of the storm had altered their course.

 

As soon as they arrived in this new, unplanned place, immediately everyone recognized Jesus.

This is the mark of suffering, its peculiar, beautiful gift to us: the gift of immediately. 

When we trust Jesus in the storm, He will be the first thing people recognize when we finally do make it across the sea. #hope #suffering #healing Click To Tweet

Jesus goes with us to our new place of anchoring. In His presence during the storm, the place we finally land becomes irrelevant. All that matters is Him. He is our salvation, the Master of the wind and sea. He is the Captain of our journey across the waves of suffering. He is the Light in our long night.

With Jesus in our boat, who cares where we are going? We are going with Him.

When we finally drop anchor, immediately others will recognize Jesus. 

The passage does not say that the people asked how the sailors survived the storm in the night. It does not say that the villagers surrounded the disciples and demanded they explain who they were and why they came. Those things were not important anymore. 

All the people saw was Jesus.

The entire region was transformed as people ran far and wide spreading the news of His coming. 

All who came to Him were healed.

Another gift of suffering: healing power.

Out of our storm, the one that drove us to a destination we did not choose, there is potential for great healing power in the lives of others. Jesus is in the boat with us, Jesus anchors us, Jesus disembarks with us, and Jesus heals those who come and see.

We are witnesses not only of the storm but of the Savior’s power. 

Are you in a storm today? Did you have a perfect plan for your life only to be grounded by a global pandemic? Were your hopes for a healthy marriage suddenly ravaged by the thunderous force of infidelity? Did you set out to raise your children in the ways of the Lord only to arrive at the destination of Prodigal? Have your plans for growing old with your loved ones been threatened by the gale-force winds of a cancer diagnosis?

Peer through the darkness. Jesus is walking toward you upon the waves. 

Welcome Him into your boat and trust Him as he commands the torrent to cease. Go with Him across this sea and anchor where He takes you.

There is no record of the conversation between Jesus and the disciples between the moment He entered the boat and the instant that anchor dropped in Gennesaret. Those quiet words were private, between the Lord and his loved ones.

I imagine they were healing conversations. Personal and tender, truth-filled, and peace-giving. 

Jesus speaks tenderly to us on the journey we do not understand, the path that seems to be taking us to a place we did not plan to go. He gives us peace in the long hours before dawn.

Once they reached the other side, we do not see the disciples demanding an explanation because their plans changed. We see Jesus. We do not hear the exhausted crew complaining. We hear joyful cries of the lost being found, the sick being healed, the desperate finding hope.

When the winds of the storm alter your course, go with Jesus.

Immediately, He will be recognized. And like the disciples, you will become a witness of His power to heal not only your heart but the hearts of thousands.

Lord, welcome into my storm. I yield my map to You. Anchor me on the other side and use my storm to bring healing to many. Amen.

@audreycfrank