“You wonder what to do when you feel attacked on all sides by seemingly irrisistable forces, waves that cover you and want to sweep you off your feet. Sometimes these waves consist of feeling rejected, feeling forgotten, feeling misunderstood. Sometimes they consist of anger, resentment or even the desire for revenge, and sometimes of self-pity and self-rejection. These waves make you feel like a powerless child abandoned by your parents.
What are you to do? Make the conscious choice to move the attention of your anxious heart away from these waves and direct it to the One who walks on them and says, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid.” (Matthew 14:27; Mark 6:50; John 6:20).
Keep turning your eyes to him and go on trusting that he will bring peace to your heart. Look at him and say, “Lord have mercy”. Say it again and again, not anxiously but with confidence that he is very close to you and will put your soul at rest.”
Excerpt from “The Inner Voice of Love” by Henri Nouwen
