Fixated

Have you ever found yourself singularly focused on one particular goal. Finding the right school. Locating the right house. Setting a budget. Buying a new car. Creating a new baby room. Cleaning the house. Creating a balanced schedule. Finding a new job. Praying for a loved one.

Both good and bad things can tend to occupy or thoughts and attention. We can become wrapped up in our own “stuff”.  Life can certainly throw us a few curve balls. I love how Sy Rogers puts it, “Faith is trusting in God even when the world gives you a reason not to.” How awesome is that?! Faith  requires that we trust in God. But how do we do that?  We have to fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).  It’s what Jesus wanted Peter to do in the following biblical account in Matthew 14:

“22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."28 "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." 29"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

I recently had the pleasure of sharing this story with my son Mikey. He had become fixated on the thunderstorm outside. When it starts to thunder outside, he becomes a completely different person. He becomes terrified! He sticks his fingers in his ears, closes his eyes, and acts as though he is in great distress. He gets like this no matter where we are. We have prayed with him, we have had him pray, we have taught him Bible verses about notbeing  fearful because God is with us. We have exhausted our brains trying to come up with ways to calm this boy down in a thunderstorm!

Well, this past time as I described to him how Peter was walking on the water to Jesus in an incredibly bad storm, I felt like Jesus was speaking to me as well. I told Mikey that Peter was able to walk on the water as long as he kept his eyes and his focus on Jesus, but as soon as he started to look at the wind and the waves and the storm around him, he began to sink. How true that is of my own life!

So many times I try to dig my own way out of something, search for my own solution, figure something out on my own, and exhaust my own resources trying to fix my own problem. God doesn’t call us to scramble to find a way to save ourselves from the storms of this life. He doesn’t want us to look for worldly ways  to calm ourselves down and attain relaxation in the midst of craziness. He wants us to fix our eyes on Him. To focus on Him. To look to Him instead of our circumstances. He wants us to be fixated on Him because he is the only one able to handle all of our issues, concerns, fears, and problems 100% of the time. Isaiah 26:3 gives us an incredible promise saying, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT)

Ladies, let us decide to stop, pray, and think about the numerous times God has rescued us, saved us, provided for us, dug us out of a hole, and given his peace when our circumstances threaten to take away the peace that God has for us…and let’s teach our kids to do the same.

Prayer:

Wonderful, merciful, savior: I love the way you rescue me—physically and mentally. When my mind is exhausted from trying to figure my own way out of a mess, you are there. You are there to encourage me, strengthen me, take the load off of me, and place it on yourself. Help me to give my cares and concerns, frustrations and fears all to you. May I fix my thoughts on you, and receive the beautiful promise of your peace. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.