Are you allowing your heart to be split by all the things this world is throwing at you, or are you fixated and completely focused on the great love that only comes from Jesus?  Valentine’s Day can be a really hard day if we’re looking for someone to fill up our ‘love tank’ because only God offers the kind of love that is steadfast, unchanging, and always available.  

Jesus didn’t choose Peter to follow Him because Peter was perfect.  He didn’t choose him because he never made a mistake, or never messed up.  He didn’t choose Peter because needed a rock to cling to when life got hard.  He chose Peter because he wanted Peter.

How on earth could a group of Jesus-followers not notice someone in the back who was desperate for what Jesus had to offer.  How could these people not have noticed someone who was doing everything they could to see Jesus, frantic to experience the same grace, mercy, and love that He had freely given to them?  Or maybe was it that they did notice, and just weren’t interested in risking comfort to actually care.

If I’m honest, I know how they could overlook him, because it’s the same reason I sometimes ‘overlook’ the people around me…..they were afraid. Because sometimes I’m afraid. 

Perhaps the reason we don’t see God move more often isn’t because he’s not able or unwilling, perhaps it’s because we’re not consistently, fervently praying and asking him to move. Maybe the reason I’m not seeing God do the things I wish he would is actually because I’m not committed enough to ask him for them.  Matthew 17:20 tells us that “if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains”….maybe we’re not seeing mountains moved because we don’t have the faith we need to pray and ask God to move them.

Peter stood in a room that felt just like the one where Talitha died, but this time, he wasn’t the overwhelmed disciple watching from the sidelines. He was the man who had walked with Jesus, fallen hard, been restored, and now carried the Spirit’s power.

He didn’t let the memory paralyze him. He let the flashback fuel him.

Maybe, just maybe, the problem was not that the disciples couldn’t see a solution to this problem….maybe the problem is that the disciples COULD see the solution, and remembered the amount of work it required of them to see the miracle.

Before we check our text messages or our emails, before we throw that first load into the washing machine, before we even grab that cup of coffee or climb out of bed, let’s take a minute to fall to our knees and talk to Jesus.

It’s not most important that Peter walked on the water to Jesus. What’s not important is who got out the boat, but what is important is who got in it with them.

Are you chasing Jesus like your life depends on it? Are you desperate for time spent at the feet of your Savior? Are you looking for extra ways to spend your time with Him?

Remember that no matter how dark your circumstances seem, how busy life is, or how lonely you may feel, His light is constant and unchanging and most importantly, His light brings LIFE.

There is a great God that loves you more than anyone on this earth ever could…and He loved you first. He chose you; He picked you, and His great love for you, changes everything.

I’ve heard it said before that God loves me too much to answer my prayers at any time but the right time.  Maybe we all need to stop to remember that His timing is best while we lean into His great love for us.

That little bead made a forever impact on my little Will, and has made a lasting impression on me, too.

The disciples would have never known all that Jesus was capable of if they would not have followed Him completely, and first gotten into the boat.

God never intended for us to shop at Sam’s Club or Costco when searching through His word. He knew that in following Him, it would require us to make a decision every day, every morning, to seek Him, and to trust Him.

Sometimes God wants to teach us through our circumstances, rather than simply delivering us from them.

When our eyes are directed toward Jesus and the power He has to conquer all, the faith journey we’re walking doesn’t seem near as scary.

Everything was going to be different than I had imagined or planned, but God was still the loving God that I had always believed I could lean on. He had not forgotten me. He was not surprised by the ultrasound tech’s announcement, and even now He could still be trusted.