Jesus is our Savior. Not just when we are raised to new life, but continually.  He saves us and protects us as we walk through life.  But He does not save and protect us from many of the things that seem to worry us most…when we get too focused on what lies before our eyes, we overlook what lies before our hearts—and it is what lies before our hearts that we really need saving and protection from.  You do not need rescue from a financial situation as much as you need rescue from insecurity.  You do not need saving from joblessness as much as you need saving from meaninglessness.  You do not need protection from pain as much as you need protection from misery.

Anxiety over what may happen TO you is a sign of what hasn’t happened IN you. Jesus does save us…but not from adversity—He saves us from abandonment.  He saves us from loneliness.  He saves us from insecurity.  He saves us from a state of spiritual emptiness.  He sustains us with everlasting love, rescues us with infinite grace, empowers us with unending joy, and restores us with prevailing peace.  He calms the storms within our hearts so that we can face the storms before our eyes, and point to His supremacy while we’re doing it!

But a lot of these truths are difficult to grasp when we don’t let Him prove them to us.  Though you may be raised to new life in Christ, sometimes we still live by the limitations of our old life, fighting against His guidance when we’re led toward something that we think we can’t handle.  But you cannot allow your past defeat to limit your future battles.  Everything that is over your head is still under His feet.  And until you really own the victory of Jesus for yourself, until you claim it and go forward in His promises, none of those truths will ever become a reality for you.

God cannot teach you to trust Him if you never let Him take you to the doorstep of your greatest fears.  You won’t believe He is with you always if you refuse to go where you would otherwise feel alone.  And until you step out of the boat, you won’t really believe that you can walk on water.  Your “No can do…” will turn into God’s “No, CAN do!” when you live by His love rather than your lack.

He may still take you through hard times…but He will always be with you in them.  Don’t despise the hardships God has ordained to minister to you!  Let go of what you can do and trust in what He can do.  He knows where you are, and what you’re feeling, and how impossible it is to make it out…

But Jesus is the incarnation of the impossible, and that doesn’t phase Him one bit.

He’s got it under control.