Peace. Be still.

The peace Jesus gives you is greater than the storm around you.

There are monster storms out there that want to devour you and everything you love. You can’t out think them, outrun them, or overpower them. Not on your own. You know Jesus calmed a storm, and told his panicking friends they could do it. So you pray at it, throwing every Christian word you know into the wind, and maybe a few not-so-Christian ones. But nothing happens. You begin to realize that finding the right combination of words or actions won’t magically make it stop. The storm keeps raging.

Exhausted, you give up trying to make yourself more spiritual to fight your fear. You take a breath. You close your eyes to the storm, and open them to sensing God’s presence—in your heart, your mind, and in the storm around you.

At first, your awareness is just a belief that he’s really there. Somewhere. But then a thought comes, and it’s the first one in a while that isn’t stressful. It’s something good in your life, and you can’t help but be thankful. Joy fills you up more than you expected, and leads you to see other good things in your life you’re truly grateful for, each more powerful than the last.

Suddenly, there is revelation. Not an academic epiphany, but a little kid tearing open a Christmas present kind of unveiling. God is good. Not just in theory, but really, truly good. You can feel it. You see Jesus in every part of your life. Even the parts that don’t have full answers, you know he’s there, loving you through it. Now you can’t not see it. Everywhere you look, you’re recognizing ever-increasing measures of his grace, joy, peace, healing, kindness, patience, hope, wisdom, and goodness. Wave after wave of his goodness. And in that place, you can see that for every storm that arises in your life, he empowers, equips, and encourages you with more than enough to overcome it.

You open your eyes. The storm is already so much smaller and weaker. And as you say the words, they come from the foundations of your soul, from your identity in him, and all he is for you: “Peace. Be still.”