Modern Day Samaritan Woman

Here’s to Walking on Water in 2016!!!

As 2015 faded away and the New Year dawned I received many encouraging, funny and even serious good wishes for the year to come; but my cousin sent me a message that didn’t only ring true to me; it stuck in my memory and mind and I have been pondering its implications ever since.

My cousin’s message simply said “His plan for our lives once realised is quite an adventure. Like we’re walking on water and don’t even realise it.”

The more I thought about it the more I realised that 2015 was an extraordinarily difficult year for me, as well as so many others. During this year my faith was tested in ways never before experienced in my life. Tests and trails were almost a daily occurrence and I truly felt as if I could relate to Paul when he said in 

2 Corinthians 1:1

^“We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. (MSG) Emphasis my own

Not only was my personal faith tested and stretched; but my Christianity and character were attacked and under fire, by those who were the closest to me and who should have known better than most whether I was sincere or not. These mind numbing attacks would occur randomly without warning. I couldn’t understand where this was coming from or why. I wanted to retaliate but didn’t.

These onslaughts from all avenues were emotionally very painful and difficult to accept and I often wondered whether I would make it at all. I didn’t believe that I deserved them, yet I chose to submit in silence to these false accusations, instead of retaliation. Have you felt like that? 

Bombarded from all sides! Perhaps you do still feel like that? 

Wondering whether you are going to make it.

While reflecting on the tenacity it took stand firm, stable and grounded on the gospel during the year, regardless of the events occurring, my cousin’s message rang true to me, because while my focus was on survival and problem solving,

I was walking on water and not even realising it.  

Maybe you are too… Maybe that’s precisely why this has been a hard year…

Our stories are an extension of the Book of Acts…the Bible stories we love and cling to are not all finished…Our stories are still being recorded….

I shouldn’t have survived this past year…I really shouldn’t have... yet I did. 

Just as Peter should not have been able to walk on water…yet he did…

Just like the people in the bible couldn’t take credit for surviving and overcoming at great odds, so too can’t I…were it up to me I would have crawled into a hole and perished long ago, but the supernatural power of God that permitted Peter to be able to work on the water, was the same supernatural power that sustained me and carried me through a difficult year.

I was indeed walking on water and not realising it.

But isn’t this precisely what we have come to know about our faith???

Things are not always as they seem and we need to discern what is going on around us. 

Our faith is one of opposing opposites…refining and renewing our very thinking…

To live abundantly, we have to lay down our lives voluntarily,

To have plenty we must give all…

We have to love those who hate us…

Obedience to God doesn’t always appear to be the right thing in the eyes of the world…

Submission appears weak...yet actually requires tremendous courage and strength…

Forgiving others just as we have been forgiven…

I believe that the spirit realm and the battle we are all facing has slipped up a notch or two and that is why the pressure is on…

I believe that we will have to prepare to face this brand new year, fully armoured and ready to fight the good fight…

Ephesians 6:10-18

The Armor of God

^“In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [draw your strength from Him and be empowered through your union with Him] and in the power of His [boundless] might. Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places. Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious]. So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist and having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart), and having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation [to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news]. Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. With all prayer and petition pray [with specific requests] at all times [on every occasion and in every season] in the Spirit, and with this in view, stay alert with all perseverance and petition [interceding in prayer] for all God’s people.(AMP) Emphasis my own.

So here’s to walking on water in 2016… With Jesus, prayer and faith…His Will will be done and we, His children will overcome the trials to come…

*Hugs* till next time.

Ariéte