“HOW I SEE IT IS NOT HOW IT IS, IT IS ONLY HOW I SEE IT.” — Jim Richards

Accepting this reality has done as much to remove conflict and discouragement from my life as anything I have ever come to know. Circumstances have a way of blinding us to the truth and reality. WHEN HAGAR AND ISHMAEL WERE SENT AWAY FROM ABRAHAM THEY WANDERED INTO THE DESERT AND GAVE UP HOPE BECAUSE OF THEIR CIRCUMSTANCE.

Hagar sent Ishmael under a bush while she went away and complained to God. She was so preoccupied with her circumstances that she was blinded to reality. She was completely convinced that they would die in the desert. She was sure there were no resources for their deliverance. But the Bible says, “Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.” Genesis 21:19

GOD DID NOT CREATE A WELL THAT DID NOT EXIST; He opened their eyes to see the provision that had been there all along. Hagar had been blinded by her own perspective. Too many times we think we are sunk. We think it is all over. However, the truth is; fear had blinded us to the way of deliverance. One thing we can be sure of, GOD NEVER LEAVES OR FORSAKES US. WITH EVERY TEMPTATION HE MAKES A WAY OF ESCAPE!

Jesus was asleep in the boat, but the disciples were overcome with fear. All of their attention was on the waves and the wind. Jesus identified the problem; it was what they considered, i.e. focused on.

How could they have given up hope with Jesus in the boat? WE KNOW THAT WHEN PEOPLE MAKE JUDGMENTS OR WHEN THEY CHOOSE TO SEE THINGS A CERTAIN WAY, THE MIND ONLY NOTICES THOSE THINGS THAT VERIFY THEIR JUDGMENT. Conversely, it ignores those things that would indicate anything different. In other words, we see things how we think they are rather than how they really are.