Illustrations/Stories: The Grocery Run Disasters

Then when you finally make it to the cash—the finish line—on this particular shopping trip, my two-year-old son yelled at this very moment, “MOM, POOP!” And the poop that he so kindly was alerting me and everyone else at the grocery store to, had climbed up my infant’s back and was all the way saturating his shirt, coming up into his hair and all in the crevices of the cart. And I’m not lying, it was at that exact moment that I realized I left my wallet in the vehicle.

So I do the walk of shame to customer service. I take my poopy kid and the two others to our van. I be sure to shut the van door behind me while I proceed to use a great degree of effort to change my baby while not getting poop on the other children, the van, or myself. It is cold outside and have I told you I really need these groceries? So I come up with a brilliant plan. I actually shimmy out of my t-shirt in the back of the van from underneath my hoodie. I make this like makeshift dress thing for my baby. I’m feeling pretty good about myself as I go back into the grocery store until I can smell my cart a mile away. It takes me forever to clean all those crevices with my baby wipes while now my all three kids are crying on the top of their lungs. I’ve missed my window. And yet I pay for those groceries, and I feel like a boss lady who has secured the splendor for my family. And that is grocery shopping as a mom. Yes, you can clap for that.

And it’s always those times that you come home and there’s a social media post like this one with a little hashtag like #bliss, “Grocery shopping with my bundle of joy.” And you’re like, oh my soul. And I know what you’re thinking: Sarah, what about online grocery shopping?

Well, that became popular shortly after, and one of my first times I showed up feeling pretty good. I come around like a good mom. I come and assist the gentleman to put my groceries in the back. I thank him. I shut the trunk and I proceed to go back to my door when I hear click, click. My two oldest had gotten out of their car seats and were trying to talk to me and unroll down the window and they hit the lock button. So now I’m locked out of the car, my three small children are in the car, I’m yelling at them, “Press the thing that looks like a lock!” and they’re like, “We don’t know what a lock is.” And this is like in the height of the pandemic when we’re all online grocery shopping. So there’s like a row of cars who have not seen people in the pandemic that are all waiting for me to move. And I can’t get in my vehicle. So what I have to do is I have a tiny little sunroof in my vehicle that I left open. So I proceed to climb the trunk of my car, try really hard not to slide back down the windshield, and I get to the top of my vehicle and casually lower myself down the sunroof. And that was online grocery shopping. I don’t know, has anyone—I’m not just asking moms—has anybody had experiences like that? Like just disasters? I’m literally the only one. Okay, so now I feel really good about myself. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having my back on that one. It’s great.

Scripture Reading

We’re actually gonna transition now to a time, if you will, if you want to open up your Bibles, to a time when the disciples find themselves in not this kind of disaster, but in a disastrous situation. If you want to open with me to Matthew chapter 14, it’ll be on the screen.

“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. And after he dismissed them, he went to the mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves, because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake, and when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, ‘Take courage, it is I, don’t be afraid.’ ‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You have little faith,’ he said, ‘why do you doubt?’ And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly, you are the Son of God.'”

Main Points: The Everyday Storms

So here are the disciples and they’re in a boat and they’re struggling. And it’s important to note this isn’t the first time that the disciples have found themselves in a boat struggling. The first time was actually six chapters earlier in Matthew 8. And the first time, the waves are coming up over the boat. It is a furious storm. Their lives are in danger. So they go down to where Jesus is sleeping, they wake him up, they say, help us, and he comes up, he says, “You have little faith,” and he rebukes the wind and the waves, and it’s calm.

So they’ve been in a boat in a storm. They know that Jesus can calm the storm. They know his power. He just finished feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. So, why didn’t they cry out to God in this storm? Well, this storm is being described as not as serious. See, the first storm, it’s life-threatening. This storm, it’s kind of rocky, but it’s not as serious. And it’s important to note that disciples, many of them, were fishermen. They would have known how to navigate these particular waters. They knew how to put a boat through a storm. They were struggling at the oars, sure, but they had this handled. They had this taken care of. They arguably did not realize or recognize their need for Jesus in this everyday struggle.

Everyone here has some sort of metaphorical wind against them, some sort of rockiness in their life right now. Maybe for you, Mother’s Day is difficult and painful. Maybe it’s a health condition. Maybe it’s loneliness or grief or a relationship hurt. Maybe it’s the exhaustion of the everyday. But we all have everyday struggles. It’s easy for us to say, “Jesus, take the wheel” when our very lives are in danger, right? That is the natural response when we are at our very wit’s end. It is more difficult to actually recognize our need for Jesus in the everyday struggle. It’s so easy to depend on our own abilities to navigate the storm.

The Trench of Self-Reliance

Like I was saying, my husband and I had an experience like this. Our youngest son, Micah, was born very traumatically. Our nurse, who has since been fired from the Moncton City Hospital for allegedly giving moms labor-inducing drugs without their knowledge or consent—when she left our room, I had my very first contraction and my baby came in that contraction. And that’s not good. And so he was rushed off to the ICU. It’s incredibly traumatic. Thankfully he was okay. We were left with that.

Then we knew he was gonna be born with a club foot. His foot was twisted in, and so the treatment of that is, I have my kids on maternity leave, daycare is really expensive at this time, and so we have to pack up all three kids, sometimes at like four in the morning, to make our appointment in Halifax, a three-hour drive ahead. We’ve had no sleep with our infant. Pack all the kids up, go to Halifax. They twist his foot as far as they could, they put a cast on it, and when we come back the next week, they take the cast off and we do it again and again and again and again for several months.

He finally had a surgery and we had three weeks to recover and we didn’t have to go to the IWK. We were so excited. And one morning I was changing the baby’s diaper, and I realized my two-year-old son had just learned how to open up a door, and I could hear the outdoors, and I ran to the door to watch my son get completely run over by a truck. He’s okay, I don’t want you to freak out. And so we rush him to the hospital, to which I assume is me helping him pass away, and they do test after test and miraculously, he didn’t need a surgery, but his pelvis was fractured, completely bent over. He was gonna be okay. Micah was gonna be okay.

But I’m now home with three children full-time, one who after surgery needs these boots and bars for 23 hours a day and they cause these awful sores on his feet. It was incredibly difficult. That went on for months and months. I have a two-year-old who’s on painkillers and can’t walk, and we’re physiotherapying him to do that again. And I have a four-year-old daughter, and I should be nothing but grateful my kids are going to be okay when so many are not. And I find myself going to church with a great old Sunday morning smile saying, “God is so good,” and He is. But the truth is I was not okay. I was struggling in the everyday.

I’m a nurse. I’ve been an oncology nurse for almost 17 years. I know coping mechanisms. I know available resources. I help people through cancer diagnosis and trauma. And I find myself—I went to counseling, it was phenomenal. I relied on my church family; they were great. I did all the things that you were supposed to do, and yet I’m still struggling at the oars because the wind was against me. And it’s in this storm where God met me in such a powerful way. You see, before this, I knew God. I loved God. I served God. But I did not rely on God. And there is such a profound difference.

The Most Transformative Lesson

In this time, I created a closet that became my prayer closet. And sometimes I ran there three times in an hour, crying out to God to be with me and to carry me. I opened up my Bible with such a thirst for the Lord, like, “I need a word from you today, God.” And I’m going to tell you, each and every time he met me in his living word. I filled my home with worship music; I needed it like air to breathe. And can I tell you, it changed the atmosphere of my home and carried me through that time. I developed what was such a real and intimate relationship with God during this difficult time.

But can I tell you that the most transformative thing in my life actually wasn’t this storm? See, like the disciples, it was during this storm that I learned what God was capable of. But the most transformative thing in my life was learning that I actually needed God in the everyday waves and bumps as much as I needed him back then. That the God who works in power in our most desperate moments when we cry out to Him wants to use that same power in our everyday lives. That is where long-lasting, lasting transformation happens in our souls.

God is so good and I’m so grateful that he used these difficult times in my life. He has met me again and again last week, the week before, carrying me, speaking into my life. But we have to first identify our need for him in our everyday life. Once we recognize that, then we need to see his love for us. See, God loves you. I love this verse in Mark 6:48. Jesus saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them. Jesus saw them, and he sees you. He sees you and he loves you. Even when they didn’t recognize it themselves, he saw them. And he sees you in the middle of your mess and your pain and your struggling. Even if you don’t recognize him yourself, he sees you.

Psalm 149 says the Lord takes delight in his people. And what the Bible says in Proverbs, what a person desires is unfailing love. That is what we yearn for. And I don’t know if your mom was fantastic or terrible, but I’m gonna tell you, the love that you desire can never come from a human. That type of love only comes from God Himself. Not only does He love you, He knows you. Paul writes, “as I am fully known.” And yet, Romans 5:8, God demonstrates his love for us that while we were still sinners, before you’ve changed anything about yourself, he died for you. That is the love of Jesus.

Just like a toddler—like these little babies have no idea all that their mother does for them—we often don’t recognize Jesus in our life. See, the disciples, they didn’t recognize Jesus coming towards them. They were scared. They said, “It’s a ghost!” And how often, just like a mom of a toddler, God is working all around us, doing things constantly, and yet we fail to see him. But the truth is, as it says in the word, he will never leave you nor forsake you. He is always with you. He is an ever-present help in times of trouble. He is a strong tower that the righteous run into and they are saved. He is our advocate to the Father. Jesus is our intercessor, always speaking on our behalf. He wants to guide us in all truth. He wants to make our paths straight.

The same God who approached the disciples when they weren’t even asking for it, when they weren’t even recognizing their need for it because of his absolute love for them, he came to them on the water. And the same God who reaches down to Peter and pulls him out of the mess of his mistakes, out of his failures, the same God is here in this room and he’s reaching out to you right now. Can you feel him? God is fighting on your behalf right now. Lord, give us eyes to see you and recognize that in our life.

Glancing at Problems, Gazing at Jesus

Once we see God, the next thing is we have to set our eyes on Him. See, Peter fixes his eyes on Jesus until he doesn’t, right? Until he looks at the waves and he starts to sink. And how easy is it for us? As moms, this world is terrifying. As humans, the world is terrifying. And it is so easy to fixate on our problems, to fixate on our pain, on our issues, to stare at them and then glance at God. “You see this? You gonna help me out with this? This is still a problem.” That sort of thing. But we should be setting our eyes on Jesus and glancing at our problems.

It’s so easy when difficult times come to simply cope, conceal, and control. We like to cope. We’re dealing with issues, so what do we do? Well, we like to scroll our problems away. We like to distract ourselves with things like entertainment and Netflix and busy schedules—just simply cope with the pain and keep moving forward. We like to control. We like to intellectualize our way out of our situations. “I’ve got this, God. I’ve got experience with this.” We like to conceal. Maybe you’re a person who likes to push it right down deep and try not to think about it. But see, when we cope and control and conceal, these are all forms of self-reliance. Self-reliance is a form of pride, and the Bible says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Our struggles in life can be such a gift because it’s in the middle of our struggles that we can recognize that we are not enough. And God is so necessary to our lives, not out of a sense of guilt or shame, but out of a sense of absolute love and gratitude for all that he has to offer. See, the struggles are a reminder and a chance to fall flat on our face in front of God in humility. And it is in those places that God unleashes his grace, his power, and his presence. His grace is given to the humble. And the word says, his grace is sufficient for you. Paul says, “For God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I’m gonna boldly proclaim all the more about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. This is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, insults, I delight in hardships and difficulties. For when I am weak, God makes us strong.” And finally, He is so close to the brokenhearted. His presence is so close and available to those who are struggling.

Exiting the Boat

Our daily struggles are not just something to endure, but they are something to embrace as an avenue towards more Jesus. Peter saw Jesus, he recognized his need of him, he sets his eyes on him, and he exits the boat in faith. And what does it mean to exit the boat in faith? Well, when I think about faith, I think about Moses. He’s one of the mighty men of faith in the Bible. And it’s interesting in Exodus, it explains that Moses has what’s called this tent of meeting. And he sets it outside of the camp and he goes there very frequently to be with God, and the Bible says that God spoke to him like he speaks to a friend. The Israelites kind of come to the edge of the tent when they have concerns, and Moses brings them messages.

What’s the difference between Moses and the Israelites? Well, Moses has a relationship with God. The Israelites have rules, the Ten Commandments, instructions, and Moses as their intercessor. Moses is steadfast, the Israelites are easily strayed. Moses is a servant to others, the Israelites are constantly self-focused. Moses has an incredible amount of faith; the Israelites have an incredible amount of fear. In fact, when the Israelites are brought to the promised land, to the edge of all that God has for them—because there’s a certain amount of uncertainty or discomfort, they have to go in and defeat an enemy—they’ve defeated a lot of enemies before, but because it looks uncomfortable or uncertain, the Israelites respond and say in Numbers 14:4, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

And we do the same thing today. We look to people, we want people like our pastors. “You be our spiritual leaders. You go into the secret tents of meeting. You meet with God and then bring your messages back to us and give them to us.” Later on in 1 Samuel 8, the people, the Israelites, again, he brings them a message and they refuse to listen to Samuel. “No,” they said, “we want a king. Then we’ll be like other nations.” How often do we as believers want to be like other nations? We want spiritual flourishing to come from podcasts. We want spiritual flourishing to come from a good book or a retreat. “Can’t it come from like a social media Instagram clip from my favorite preacher at the end of the day? I’m thinking like five minutes max.” We want spiritual flourishing. For me, it’s productivity. I love doing things. I want my flourishing to come from doing stuff. None of that is necessarily bad. I just want to be clear: God uses all those things to reach us, but never in replacement of himself.

Closing Challenge: Rhythms of Relationship

Spiritual flourishing only comes from a loving God through the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. See, we’re no longer the Israelites because of the blood of Jesus. We don’t need Moses as an intercessor because Jesus is the ultimate intercessor. God is so holy; we are so not holy. We could never be with him, but Jesus came—God’s only son—he lived a perfect life, he died for our sins, breaking the barrier between sin and holiness. And now the blood of Jesus can cover all of our mistakes. And now the Holy Spirit was unleashed unto the world so that we could have relationship with God the Father. Praise God! Praise God!

And yet, so often we can be like the Israelites, standing at the edge of all that God has for us. And because what looks like uncomfortable, what looks like effort and work, how often are we like, “Can you just give us a leader and send us back to slavery?” We would rather be in the middle of the storm in a boat, struggling at the oars ourselves, than stepping out of the boat and facing towards Jesus. And yet God is calling us, I believe, to a new way of living as believers. And it looks like rhythms of relationship and patterns of presence.

See Moses, he was so dependent on the presence of God that when he brought them to the promised land, he says, “If your presence doesn’t go with us, don’t take us from here.” He would rather be stuck in the storm with God than in the promised land without him. And we see this with Jesus himself. What happens at the beginning of the story? Where is Jesus? He dismissed the crowds and he went by himself to pray. The bigger Jesus’ ministry gets, the more often he retreats to be with God the Father. And we need the power of God in our lives, a direct connection from us to Him.

God is offering this to every single person in this place. This is not for the elite; this is not for a select chosen few. God didn’t send his son for a few, he sent them for every single person. And this is available to you today. You just need to pray: “Lord, here I am. Forgive me and make me your child, and may I follow you.” And I believe that God is calling his children back to himself this morning out of our boats of self-reliance, out of our boats of fear and insecurity and doing things our way and glancing at Jesus once in a while. God is calling us to Himself.

And that can be difficult because sometimes it’s so easy to believe, to have a disconnect between what I know is true in my head and what I feel in my heart. “I know you are a loving God, but you don’t feel loving to me. I know you are the God who can stop the storm, and yet it rages all around me.” But the truth is, if God is not calming your storm, perhaps he is trying to calm you. If God is not changing your circumstances, He can do one better: He can actually change you. And I believe that God wants to use your storms, your small waves, the things that are being buffeted that you convinced yourself are not that big of a deal—God wants you to use these as avenues towards more Jesus.

What does that look like? That looks like reading your Bible every day. That looks like fasting. That looks like—can I challenge you this morning, especially if you’ve been a believer for a while—try doing this in the morning. It’s completely life-changing. 15 minutes, 30 is really nice. God’s mercies are new every morning. And when we wake up with a nice cup of coffee, and curl up with our Bible and give Jesus our struggles and open ourselves to him every morning with our daily things, I’m gonna tell you, he will meet you in those places. What looks like scary and effort is actually freedom and dancing with God in the waves. God is going to convict you of things that you didn’t even know were hurting you, and you’re going to have freedom with Him between yourself and Him.

Fill your homes and your cars with worship music; it will transform the atmosphere of your lives. Invite Jesus into your everyday circumstances, not only starting in prayer, but praying to God throughout your day, inviting him into everything you encounter as you encounter it. It is in these spaces that God will transform your lives. And then church is not a place that we come to out of desperation when we’re exhausted at the end of the week like, “Lord, speak to me through my pastor.” It’s a place that we arrive filled with the Holy Spirit because we’ve been encountering him all week and we’re ready to rock and roll together as a family of God. Amen. I believe that God is calling us all to rise.