Be Not Afraid | Jesus and Peter on the Stormy Sea | Christian Wall Art by Mark Mabry

About 'Be Not Afraid'

A Note from Mark Mabry

I have learned, even when it feels a little nuts, to believe in things I cannot fully explain. Mercy. Angels. The idea that an ordinary life can carry an actual miracle inside it. Walking on Water is the scene I keep coming back to in my Christian art for exactly this reason. Faith, for me, is more of a choice than a feeling. In dark stretches it is easy to revert back to doubt, so I keep choosing.

That is what I think this scene is showing us. Not the rescue. Not the storm. Just the simple, almost casual posture of a man who knows He can be on the water. He walks like He belongs there. The invitation is to keep our focus on the next step instead of the surface tension under our feet. To live like the miracle we are walking inside is real.

I think the story works because we have all sunk in water before. We have universal empathy for what happens out there. The fear of going under is one of the few things every person on earth shares. When Christ shows up walking calmly across that same surface, He is not just doing a trick. He is telling us what is actually possible in a life with Him in the frame.

I made this image for the moment in your day when you need to remember you are still in the miracle. The marriage you are still building. The kid you are still raising. The work you are not sure how to keep funding. The faith you have chosen to keep choosing. He is walking on the same water you are wading through. Most days it does not feel dramatic. That is the point.

"But immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid."

— Mark 6:50 (KJV)