When God Rocks Your Boat - Danielle Pickering
Have you ever been in a storm? A bad storm? A storm that sends you running to the basement. A storm that you can feel the house shaking. There is no doubt those storms are terrifying. You have a healthy fear of those storms, as you ought.
In 2012 we went through what I consider the first time the Lord “rocked my boat.” I was 21 weeks pregnant with my first child. I had no issues during pregnancy, and everything was going as it should. Then the storm started. My water broke! At 21 weeks exactly. My body was failing my little baby that weighed just under a pound. The thunder started. I was contracting, and my body was preparing for delivery. Lightening and wind picked up. I was beginning to show signs of being septic. The worst storm of my life was happing around me as I delivered a beautiful baby boy weighing 22 ounces at 22 weeks pregnant. This storm was nothing like I had ever witnessed and most definitely unlike anything I had ever experienced. Through the next 5 months the storm raged and calmed many times over. We heard words like “incompatible with life,” “vegetable,” “unable to walk, talk, breath, eat on his own,” etc. It was so difficult, and I kept thinking “why, Lord!?” But there were a few things during this storm that I’d like to share with you today that I think may be a help, as it was a help for me.
The first thing is that the storm will always seem bigger when you are face to face with it. I am not trying to make light of your storm. Its hard. It’s a battle. It’s intense and it’s likely the hardest thing you’ve ever been through up until that time. The Bible says in Matthew 14:28, where Peter is about to walk on water, “And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” Now when I am reading this I assume that Peter really wasn’t all that far from Jesus. Likely he was just feet away. The next verses however he comes face to face with his storm and it says “And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” Peter saw his fear, his storm, happening and he was terrified! It was the same wind and storm that was happening just a moment ago when he was on the ship, but now it was real! It was happening and it was scary! The storm seemed so much bigger than it did a few moments ago. The next thing I took from this is that Your Reliance is Desperate. Not only do you need the Lord, or want the Lord to help you, but you are relying on the Lord to help you! He has to help, because you are being blown away in this storm! Peter cried in verse 30, “Lord, save me.” Now the Bible puts a period there. However, I always imagine him with a fearful and tearful cry with exclamation points. When we were sitting there in that hospital room with our tiny little micro-preemie and doctors were giving us less than 5% chance of survival- we had to rely on God. When they came back and said he was living but he was the sickest baby in the entire NICU, we clung to God. When they came to us at the 2 week mark and said he would die without these life saving medicines that will definitely affect his brain- believe me we cried out with all those exclamation points! There was absolutely nothing we could do, but the Lord could! We had a desperate reliance on our Savior to help us!
Jumping ahead almost 10 years to 2021 we were once again faced with an incredible storm that was rocking our boat. Life was going great. My husband was a Pastor for a small church in Iowa. My children were thriving. Yes, that little micro-preemie 1 pound baby survived, is thriving and is nearly 10! Then the thunder started. My husband started having panic attacks. The lightening came. He started losing weight, not sleeping. He was on the brink of death. The fierce wind came. He had to resign the position he absolutely loved, and our entire family had to move 2 hours away to seek help for him. It was life and death at this moment. Here we were, on that same ship, face to face with our difficult storm once again. Back came the total, absolute, incredible reliance for God to solve this. To help us. To save his life!
The last thing I want to share is the rainbow. Look for the rainbow. After each death-defying storm, there is a beautiful rainbow. This rainbow was a promise in the Bible that the Lord would not flood the Earth again. When you think of the rainbow after your storm, you see what the Lord did during that storm. Yes it was scary, but he worked out the details. It was fierce, but He protected you. It was heartbreaking, but He never left you. It was intimidating, but the provision was always there.
Back to that NICU room where we spent over 4 months. I didn’t mention that my husband and I walked into that NICU with just a few hundred dollars to our name. Enough money to take care of that month’s rent. We never worked during that NICU stay and yet we were always abundantly taken care of. In 2021 we were yet again forced to stop working for survival, and the Lord has more than taken care of us in the meantime. His provision is always there. He will always take care of you. He will never leave you. You know how I know that? Because Jesus was right there in the storm with Peter, and He is right there in the storm with you, too.