Keep your head above water!

I love to go swimming. What was even more fun last week about being in the pool was toting my four year old around in the water with me. She gets so excited about the water, but she is terrified all at the same time. What is amazing to me is that she doesn’t allow her fear to stop her from jumping in. She would rather feel the cool water all around her than to sit on the sidelines, melting in the sun.

I love that about her.

The water on one end of the pool was just low enough that she could stand and allow the water come to just under her chin. She would float around on a purple pool noodle with full confidence that if she hopped off, she could catch her balance with her feet safely planted on the bottom of the pool. So, at one point, I grabbed the pool noodle and started dragging her into deeper waters.

That is where she lost it.

Now, I am her mother and I was right there beside her. I would never let her drown. If the noodle would have given way, I would have been right there to catch her. I was never more than and hand grip away. She loves me. She trusts me…but not in that moment. The water just seemed to big….and she lost it.

I pulled the noodle out from under her and grabbed her close to me. She started freaking out. I just held her. I wanted her to know that I was there and that I wouldn’t allow her to go under. I just talked to her. As she got quieter, she could hear my voice and started to calm down a bit. We got to the point where I was holding her out from me at arms length in the deepest part of the pool.

I wasn’t going to let go.

I have no desire to see harm come to my daughter.

She learned to trust me.

When she was done or when she needed an extra hug or hand, all she had to do was ask and it was there. When she was ready, I could hold her out again.

God couldn’t help but make this a teaching moment for me.

I don’t have a lot of fear when it comes to taking on difficult tasks. God has definitely NOT given me the spirit of fear or timidity! I live that verse. However, I do not like it when He calls upon me to do the impossible.

But isn’t that where God teaches me that He is there the most? …when I can’t touch bottom and my head is barely above water? Do I really think that His desire is to see me drown?

No.

He desires for me to ask for His hand.

He is there…stretched out and ready to grab me by the hand and give me the security that I need to continue to trust Him. If He only ever gave me tasks that were easy for me, where would Faith come in?

It wouldn’t.

Where would growth happen?

It wouldn’t.

God’s best for me is where I learn to hold His hand and be lead rather than taking the reigns and leading in my own direction.

God’s best for me is being where my feet are no longer touching the bottom of the pool, but His feet are firmly planted and He is simply holding me up.

Psalm 46:10
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."