Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. — Matthew 8:24
When my wife began experiencing panic attacks, I naturally wanted to help. As soon as I figured out that she was getting up in the middle of the night and rushing to the window air conditioner and gasping for breath because she was in panic, I decided to do the helpful thing and teach her a few things about fear.
I had memorized a long list of verses about fear. I showed her how to stand in front of the mirror and boldly proclaim, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear. The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid." And so on. "Say it like you mean it," I encouraged.
Lucky for me she didn’t divorce me on the spot.
Again and again, she tried to explain to me that quoting verses and positive confession didn’t work for her. Finally, the Lord stepped in and helped her. He gave me a few panic attacks of my own.
God had something better for her than my little "solutions."
Jesus could have offered the disciples a seminar on the shore, a selection of verses about fear, panic, drowning, death and faith. But he bypassed the Powerpoint opportunity and took them straight into deep water. He didn’t want to teach them about fear. He wanted to deliver them from fear.
How do you get delivered from fear? You take Jesus with you into the scariest place.
Kim took Jesus with her into some very scary places. Her panic became a highway for a proundly new and deeper relationship with God. Just as the disciples discovered a Jesus they never knew before, so also Kim discovered a loving God who came in to cast out fear.
This is how this devotional started. As Kim and I took this journey together, we kept discovering and experiencing a God we never quite knew was there. Just like the Claritan commercial, things that were foggy and gray gave way to bright, high definition, technicolor.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
This devotional was based on Dwight’s presentation, Panic to Praise: How we found peace in the place of our fears. For information about Dwight to speaking to your church or group visit
http://www.dwightclough.com/training/speaking_services.html