Keeping my eyes on Jesus...

"Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor." -- Proverbs 21:21

Teaching KidsPraise at my church as been such a blessing to me. It is my way of using the talents God gave me to give back and serve others. But, it has taught me so many things, and reinforced things I already knew. My experiences with KidsPriase have really brought the Proverbs verse above to life.

This past Sunday, the lesson was about TRUST...trusting that God is bigger than your fears and if you keep your focus on Jesus, then you can do amazing things. The Bible story was one of my favorites...Jesus and Peter walking on the water. Yes, the story and the way I told it was meant to teach children about the Bible and about God, but it was so perfect for what is going on in my life too.

Grown-up life can be a pretty scary thing. Living with consequences of bad choices from the past...dealing with bad things that get dropped in your lap...your plans for your life don't always work out the way you thought they were going to and sometimes the way they are working out is really tough. Sunday morning I woke up and had all those thoughts running around in my mind...I was just plain afraid of what was going on and afraid of what is going to happen in the future. You know the feeling when you are TRYING to do the right things and fix past mistakes, but you seem to be going no where? But, I picked up my KidsPraise script and began reading through it again.

The story goes that the disciples were so afraid in the boat in the middle of the huge lake in the middle of a terrible storm in the middle of the night...they were in the middle alright...the middle of a nightmare. Then they saw what they thought was a ghost walkign toward them on the water...when they realized it was Jesus, Peter took a huge risk and stepped out of the boat. With his eyes on Jesus, he took several steps in a journey that was virtually IMPOSSIBLE! But, the minute that he took his eyes off Jesus and realized where he was and what he was doing, he sank straight down in to that terrible story water. But, when he cried out to Jesus to save him, the hand of the Lord reached down and pulled him out!

Reading through those words was a comfort. But...when I was in front of those little faces...in front of children who haven't had the chance to make huge mistakes and live with the consequences...the story came to life for me!!! They helped with making it seem more real by blowing and rocking back in forth like the waves rocking the boat. They looked up in amazement when I spoke of Peter walking on TOP of the water! They understood WHY Peter sank when he took his eyes off Jesus.

By studying the Bible and teaching it to others, I have been pursuing righteousness and love. I am looking for help. when I feel like I am drowning in my own circumstances I need only to cry out to Jesus and he will life me out of the story water and remind me to keep my eyes on him. By learning to pursue righteousness (a life of full of God's love) I am finding life! Life isn't always easy...it is full of scary storms. But if I keep my eyes on Jesus and TRUST him, then I know I can make it through the storm!

Just typing that, it sounds a little trite and too easy to to be true. But...I am here to tell you that it IS true! I am still afraid of what the future holds for my hard situation...but the good thing is I KNOW that I will make it through. I will be ok. I CAN work through the consequences of past mistakes and not drown because I go back to keeping my eyes focused on Jesus.

I am looking forward to a life of love, prosperity and honor, knowing that I have a Savior who loves me and will save me when I am drowning.