When Life Feels Like It's Drowning You

(And Why You're Not Actually Sinking)

You know that dream where you're trying to run but your legs won't move? Or you're drowning and can't breathe? That's how life feels sometimes. The waves are crashing, the boat's taking on water, and you're screaming for help while Jesus—in this metaphor—is asleep in the back. Which, honestly? Feels a little rude.

But here's what I keep learning: the preservation isn't coming. It's already here.

This week's lesson opens with Jesus and the disciples in a boat during what the Bible calls "a great tempest." The boat's literally being swamped. The disciples panic. Jesus is napping.

They wake him up: "Lord, save us! We're dying!"

And Jesus says something that would've made me want to throw him overboard: "Why are you so afraid? Where's your faith?"

Then he tells the storm to knock it off. And it does.

The disciples' response? "What kind of person is this that even the wind and waves obey him?"

Wrong question, actually.

The better question: What did Jesus understand about storms that they didn't?

Before we get to Jesus, let's talk about Noah for a second.

God tells Noah: "Build an ark. Big flood coming. Save yourself, your family, all the animals."

Traditional reading: God's going to destroy everything except what's in the boat. Better be good and follow instructions or you're toast.

But here's the metaphysical translation: The ark is consciousness based in Truth. The flood is... everything that looks like it's going to drown you but actually can't touch what's real.

From Science and Health: "ARK. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of Spirit, destroying belief in matter."

Noah wasn't building a boat. He was living from a consciousness that storms couldn't reach. The ark wasn't wood—it was understanding.

Jesus knew this. It's why he could sleep through the storm—not because he was confident God would save him, but because he wasn't identifying with the part of existence that storms can touch.

He lived on rock. Spiritual foundation. The disciples were still building on sand—material sense, fear, the belief that circumstances determine safety.

When Jesus says "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect," he's not demanding moral perfection. He's pointing to what's already true: you're the idea of perfect Mind, maintained by that Mind, held in that consciousness.

The storm can't touch that.

Look, I get it. When you're in the middle of your version of "the boat is sinking," spiritual metaphors can feel useless.

Your kid's in crisis. Your health's a mess. Your bank account's hemorrhaging. The relationship you built your life around just imploded.

And someone says, "Well, God is preserving you."

Cool. Doesn't feel preserved.

But here's what I've seen work—not as bypass, but as actual help:

The storm isn't the circumstances. The storm is the belief that circumstances can actually threaten what you are.

You're not fragile matter barely holding on. You're consciousness, maintained by divine Principle. And that consciousness—the real you—can't be touched by anything that looks like it's coming at you through material conditions.

When Peter's mother-in-law had a fever, Jesus didn't give her medicine or pray for hours. He just... touched her hand. The fever left. Done.

Why? Because he saw past the symptom to what was actually true: she was whole. The fever was just confused thinking expressing itself physically.

One woman in this week's lesson had consumption and couldn't breathe when the wind came from the east. Mary Baker Eddy sat with her silently. Her breathing normalized. Then Eddy had her look at the weather vane—still pointing east.

The wind hadn't changed. Her thought about it had.

When you're in your storm, try this:

Stop negotiating with the waves. You're not trying to calm them down, manage them, or wait them out. You're recognizing they're not actually touching the part of you that's real.

Find the rock. What's the spiritual truth about this situation that doesn't depend on circumstances changing? Not affirmations. Not wishful thinking. What's actually, spiritually true that you keep forgetting?

Let yourself be held. The preservation isn't something you earn or attract. It's what's already happening. You're maintained by Mind, held in Love, governed by Principle. That's not up for debate based on how it looks.

The disciples thought they needed Jesus to save them from the storm.

Jesus was showing them they were never in danger from it.

Different consciousness. Different experience. Same storm.

That's the shift. And it changes everything.