Walking on the Sea

One of my favorite stories from Christ's time on earth is the story of Peter walking on water to meet Christ in Matthew 14:22-33.  There are many applications from this passage that can parallel our lives.  This account happens right after Christ is done feeding the five thousand and teaching the people.  After He is done with His sermon, He asks the disciples to get on a boat and meet Him on the other side of the sea.  After they and the multitude left, Christ went up into a mountain to pray.  The scriptures then talk about how the sea was "boisterous" and wind "contrary" and yet the disciples went anyway.  Christ was the one that sent them out into the less than friendly sea and was watching over them from the mountain, but did not come down to them till the "fourth watch".  Sometimes we are sent down paths in life that are not the most pleasant but God is always watching out for us and will come save us, even if He does let us struggle a little first.
Another vital part of this story is Peter walking on water.  When he first saw Christ walking on the water and heard His voice, Peter wanted to come out and meet Him.  He had faith to know that Christ would help him and allow him to come out and meet Christ out on the turbulent sea.  While this faith was with him, Peter had no trouble walking on water and facing the storm; it was when he got distracted and looked away at the tempest around him that he started to sink.  In life, we must have our eye single to the glory of God and have faith in His ways.  If not, then we are more easily besotted and bogged down by the cares and trials of the world.  Even if we do allow our gaze to wander though, Christ is there with an outstretched hand to immediately reach out and grab our hand if we are sinking.  Faith and doubt cannot co-exist.  When we have faith in Christ and in His plan for us, then there is no room for doubt in our lives.  It is when we allow doubt to enter our lives that faith starts to diminish and paralyzing fear creeps in.  Christ is there for us and when we call to Him, He will come rescue us from the waves and winds of the Sea of Life.

"Sometimes the Lord calms the storm, and sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child."
-Elder John Groberg