Lifeguard

“He reached down from heaven and rescued me; He drew me out of the deep waters.”

                                                     Psalm 18:16

There are times in our lives when we may feel we are in “too deep”.  In different seasons of my life I have experienced this feeling with different circumstances facing me.  A feeling like I just want to give up.  Many situations cause these feelings of drowning.  

Sin can cause us to feel ashamed and unforgivable.  We can feel like the sin in our life is so ugly that we get stuck there not knowing where to turn or how to come to the surface.  We get buried under the pressure of heavy water, guilt that holds us down.  Trouble in our lives can also send us to the ocean depths, marital problems, wayward children, financial stress or loss of a loved one.  These situations, not necessarily caused by our own sin, can still cause great grief and begin to pull us under. Sometimes these circumstances happen so fast as if we are thrown off the side of the boat.  For others it is a slow process.....first a few pebbles in our pockets and before we know it, a brick tied to each leg.  

The cause of our sinking doesn’t even have to be a huge, life altering problem!  As a mother of 3 I often find myself drowning in laundry and homework and housework.  Even the “little” everyday issues slowly add weight to us and send us down the river until we hit a current too strong and we are pulled under.  

Yes, we are all susceptible to sinking or being pulled under.  We are all, at times, weak swimmers or just too tired to stay afloat.  We begin to focus on our problems and we forget to grab our life vest before we jump out of bed and jump into the ocean called life.  

Isn’t it comforting to know that we all have a personal life guard?  Yes, we all have a loving caring Man with insurmountable strength to follow us everywhere and save us, when we begin to struggle, to stay above water.  We all have a beautiful loving God who is devoted to us and our well being.  He knows every choice we make and stands beside us ready to pull us from the deep waters.  

No, we don’t have to stay afloat on our own strength!  God will do it for us if we allow Him.  Too many times we will keep kicking and gasping for air, arms flailing, panic sets in, beach goers watching from the shoreline when the best thing we can do is stop and rest.  Oh we may sink a little but God will never let us stay under too long.  He will be there with His strong arms to rescue us.  

God wants to be your life guard.  He wants you to choose Him to walk along side you every day. And before you get tired of staying above water on your own He wants to place his strong arms under your cute little behind and hold you up.  Just remember, if you ask him soon enough you may spare yourself from ever getting your hair wet and causing that make-up to run!