Awestruck

This picture sits on my mantelpiece, with a promise that my Lord can still every storm.

What happens when you begin to see the power of God is in your boat? When Jesus shut down the storm, his disciples suddenly realised that they didn't know him after all. They were awestruck, even fearful, asking each other, “Who is this?”

When did you last recognise that the God of glory is here with you?

Last year, I was praying for someone and had a picture of her laying out cones for a running race, together with a sense that she was going to train people to run for Jesus. She said, “I’ve just started a running club with the aim of reaching out with the gospel!” I was blown away, awed that God was with us.

I too quickly get dulled to this astounding truth - God, the living God, is with us.

But on Wednesday, I was filled with awe again that God is in my boat. I was weeping my way through a pile of precious notes sent to me when Trevor died when I found a picture of a rooted tree that a friend drew for me in 2017; it was startlingly similar to the logo for our trust which was developed independently by Ocean Breeze Creative.

Then I found this letter from my friend Sonja, “I wanted to share a picture that I had for you a few days after Trevor died... of a tree that had been in a storm and had lost most of its leaves. It was pretty bare and vulnerable looking above the ground but beneath the ground the picture was very different. When a tree is hit in a storm, we might expect it to become uprooted, but in this case it wasn’t, the roots were just working their way down deeper and deeper into the soil. So the tree wasn’t uprooted; it would be strong, it would stand firm.”

I am in awe that God, the Almighty, should care so much for me that he should repeatedly speak to me through this picture of a deeply rooted tree. Now the vision of the Gift of Blessing Trust is to root many lives in God’s love to bear everlasting fruit.

Our God is not a mute idol; he is the living God who speaks. Sometimes, he roars like a lion. Sometimes, he quiets us with singing. Sometimes, he whispers, softer than a breeze. Always his voice stills the raging storms of my heart. What awe when we see who it is in our boat.

The picture was a precious gift from Camilla Field whose photos can be found at https://www.fieldnote.co.uk or at Mind and Soul Foundation. You can find our wonderful graphic designer at https://oceanbreezecreative.com.