The Anchor Won’t Work If…

Stormy Weather

When life turns sour, clinging to Jesus is always the right choice. He is truly our anchor.  Stormy seas can swamp our boat. We often get battered by life’s ugliest waves. Cancer, divorce, financial stress, ill health and family addictions threaten to destroy us. 

In order to realize the worth of the anchor we need to feel the stress of the storm. (Corrie ten Boom)

Wise Captains

Wise boat captains near shore will anchor their boat during a storm. But what makes the anchor work effectively? It’s the chain. Without a chain connecting the anchor to the boat, tossing an anchor overboard is useless.

So who controls the chain? We do.

• The anchor is Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Father.
• The boat is us.
• The storms at sea are the crises which happen to us in this life.
• Our chain? It’s how we decide to respond when our lives go terribly wrong.

Fortunately, whenever I’m in pain, my natural tendency is to run toward Jesus, not away from him.

Sinking Ships

Some Christians have been taught the most foolish lie imaginable; that if they give their lives to Jesus, they won’t experience any of life’s storms. Ridiculous! Neither history, nor the Scriptures back up that whopper. The saints who live in peace have gone thru the storms of life with Christ by their side and been changed by the experience.

What grieves me are the believers who are encouraged to “get mad at God” whenever life gets rough. Sometimes they face the natural consequences of their own sin. Other times, tragedy blindsides them. Rather than cling to the Lord, bad Christian teaching encourages them to blame God for their troubles, rage at Him and then stomp off to sulk in a corner.

It’s the equivalent of breaking the chain and dropping the anchor into the sea because a storm is raging.

Nothing can be more foolish.

Changed by Hardship

Today I jotted down a handful of ways I’ve grown and been transformed through the tough storms I’ve endured in the last 35+ years.

• A rough 1st year of marriage taught me there’s no strength in self-pity. Indulging in self-pity poisons our faith. This year we are nearing our 30th wedding anniversary and our union has just grown sweeter
• My dad died when I was twenty-six, after a long illness. That time was frustrating and grief-filled,  because God didn’t answer any of my prayers. My dad didn’t heal and I have never known for sure if he was saved or not. But since that time I’ve consistently experienced God’s supernatural peace about my earthly father’s death.
• I got puffed up with spiritual pride in my early 20s, while running  my church’s food pantry. But I soon got humbled and discovered Jesus had a sense of humor. Because the poor helped themselves. Someone stole my groceries. His gentle, loving nudge made me laugh; “So, how much do you love the poor?” My answer? Not very much. Because at that time I hadn’t spent a nickel of my own money to feed anyone who was hungry. Since then I’ve grown in active compassion.
• My brother’s attempted suicide, hospital stay in a burn center, and eventual death showed me new ways dig down to discover my bedrock of faith. It also revealed  the Trinity’s kindness in the midst of soul-crushing heartbreak. I’d never want to experience those five days over, but strangely enough, I benefited from them and so did you. Because my Christian writing career grew out of that time

My Spiritual Point

Often, I’ve walked through hardship, instead of being delivered from it. But clinging to Christ my anchor has always brought me to calmer seas. So don’t let go of the chain and lose your grip on the Anchor.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV)

These images came from Pixabay,com.