Sleeping Savior

Why Are You Fearful? When It Feels Like Jesus Is Asleep in Your Storm

A few years ago, I became a caregiver to my father. My mom passed away in 2021, and I moved my dad down to Florida to be closer to me. I knew he was getting older, but I thought we’d have time, time to enjoy each other, time to settle into a new rhythm, time to breathe. And some days, we did. Other days… it was hard.

One day in particular, I had already had a long, emotional day. My dad came over for dinner, and after preparing the meal, serving it, and cleaning the kitchen (hello to my inner Martha), I finally sat down in the living room to rest and talk with him.

But when I looked over, he was asleep.

There’s something about going through a hard season that makes the quiet moments feel even heavier. When you finally exhale at the end of the day — when you finally sit down ,and the person with you is zonked out, it can make you feel profoundly alone. I didn’t fully understand what I was wrestling with until a few weeks later.

I tried talking to my dad about it. I knew he wasn’t responsible for my emotions, and I could tell he didn’t know how to help. I kept wrestling with this ache, this feeling of carrying something no one else could quite see.

A few days later, I was reading in Luke 8 about Jesus getting into the boat with His disciples. The story begins so simply:

“One day Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Let’s get in a boat and go across to the other side of the lake.’”

Okay… sounds great. A day on the lake with Jesus. Peaceful. Restful. Safe.

Then…

“But a fierce wind arose and became a violent squall that threatened to swamp their boat. Alarmed, the disciples woke Jesus and said, ‘Master, Master, we are sinking! Don’t you care that we’re going to drown?’”

Jesus wakes up, rebukes the waves, and then turns to His disciples and says:

“Why are you fearful? Have you lost faith in Me?”

Can you imagine? Why are they fearful? These men were master fishermen — this was their livelihood. They knew storms. They knew danger. They knew what drowning looked like.

And yet Jesus asks, “Why are you fearful?”

I sat with that for days. I kept asking, “How could they NOT be fearful?” The storm was real. The danger was real. Their fear made sense.

And then — epiphany.

I wasn’t wrestling with my dad being asleep on the couch. I was wrestling with the fear that Jesus was asleep in my storm.

That He wasn’t seeing what I was carrying. That He wasn’t responding. That He wasn’t helping. That He wasn’t awake to my pain.

And suddenly His question … “Why are you fearful?", felt personal.

I could list a hundred reasons. The losses. The caregiving. The exhaustion. The uncertainty. The loneliness. The waves that kept crashing.

But then I noticed something I had never seen before:

Before they ever got in the boat, Jesus said, “Let’s go to the other side.”

He didn’t say, “Let’s try.” “Let’s hope we make it.” “Let’s see what happens.”

He declared the destination before the storm ever formed.

The disciples panicked when the waves rose, just like I did. But their Savior, and ours, even asleep, is always sovereign.

He wasn’t asleep because He didn’t care. He was asleep because the storm wasn’t a threat to Him.

And if it wasn’t a threat to Him… it wasn’t a threat to them either.

So, when He asks, “Why are you fearful?” He’s not scolding. He’s inviting. Inviting us to trust the One who already knows we’re getting to the other side.

And that’s where this story met me: Not in the storm. Not in the fear. But in the reminder that Jesus is in my boat, fully present, fully sovereign, fully in control,even when He seems silent or still.

Why am I fearful? Because I forget who’s with me.

Why don’t I have to be? Because He never leaves. He never sleeps on His promises. And He always gets us to the other side.