I was both challenged and encouraged this past Sunday by a powerful sermon on Mark 4:35-41. Here are a few of the thoughts that Dr. Ron Cline shared, as well as a passage I love by Anne Graham Lotz.
There’s no question that we will face storms during this life – those trials that test our health, finances, friendships, families, emotions, strength, time and trust.
So, the only question is, how will we respond to the inevitable storms – with fear or with faith? As we face challenges, will we cling to our plans for our comfort and depend on our own limited resources or will we remember God’s goal of His glory and rely on His boundless strength?
Anne Graham Lotz creatively describes our two options of fear and faith in her book Just Give Me Jesus:
“A turkey and eagle react in different ways to the threat of a storm. A turkey reacts by running under the barn, hoping the storm won’t come near it. On the other hand, an eagle leaves the security of its nest and spreads its wings to ride the air currents of the approaching storm, knowing the wind will carry it higher in the sky than it could soar on its own. So which are you – a turkey or an eagle – in the way you react to the storms of life?
I have discovered I am an emotional turkey. I want to withdraw from the emotional pain and burdensome demands and frenzied activities and unending responsibilities. I want to run under the barn with my wings over my head and hide from the [suffering and the struggle]. I want to escape the hurt.
Yet I have chosen to be an eagle in my spirit. And in the midst of the storm, when I have spread my wings of faith to embrace the ‘Wind,’ placing my dependency upon Jesus and Jesus alone, I have experienced quiet, ‘everyday’ miracles; His joy has balanced the pain, His power has lifted the burden, His peace has calmed the worries, and His all-sufficiency has been more than adequate to meet all my responsibilities.
Soaring has become an adventure of discovering just how faithful He can be when I am way out of my comfort zone in the stratosphere over the storm. In fact, soaring has become so exhilarating that I increasingly find I am no longer content to live in the barnyard of familiarity just for its relative security. I want to live by faith! And I imagine a smile of infinite tenderness on His face as the angels in heaven applaud…
Jesus wants us to soar higher in our relationship with Him. He wants us to fall deeper in love with Him, to grow stronger in our faith in Him, to be more consistent in our walk with Him, to bear more fruit in our service to Him, to draw closer to His heart, to keep our focus on His face, to live for His glory alone!
This growth in depth and strength and consistency and fruitfulness and ultimately in Christlikeness is often [made] possible when the winds of life are contrary to personal comfort. Just as storms make it possible for eagles to soar, so suffering makes it possible for you and me to attain the highest pinnacles in the Christian life. [Storms] develop our faith.”
Looks like eagles Defy Gravity much better than turkeys 
! So, when difficult times come, I pray that we, as the body of Christ, will be prepared to soar high rather than hiding under the barn!
