My parents took me swimming at a local pool when I was younger. In fact, my dad taught me how to swim. In my mind, back then, he was absolutely fearless! He’d splash into the water – open his eyes and let the chlorine mix with his eyeballs (I wore goggles…); He would run and jump into the deep end of the pool; He would stay underwater for what felt like hours. He’d do all the stuff that you’re afraid to do when you are first getting comfortable with the water. He did it to show me that there was nothing to fear with water. (And, he also did it because he liked it!) I thank God for my daddy – he swims like a fish and he taught me how to be comfy in the water – much like a fish.

So now, I’m a decent swimmer. Sure, I’m out of shape now but I do believe I still remember how to do a few basic strokes. In college, I learned to do a pretty good crawl stroke. Once I got everything synchronized and moving, I could glide across the water with relative ease.

And life is like that.

Once we get everything synchronized and in order we can swim along seemingly effortlessly across a placid pool. It builds you up and you move out of the pool and into the sea, confidently and effortlessly. And for the most part, you do well.

Yet at times we encounter some resistance. It gets harder to swim. And sometimes it looks like all we’ll be able to do is to tread water. Despite our best efforts, we cannot get to the shore and it seems like the tide is coming in. More and more water is hampering our efforts and we cry out for help but no one is around. It’s just you and the waves which appear to be crashing down on you. What do you do?

You have two choices.

When the water/resistance is added and you feel overwhelmed, you can struggle against it, wear yourself out, and ultimately drown

OR

You can relax in the water and let the current of God’s comfort carry you, always keeping your eye to the shoreline and when things have calmed down, you will know how to swim your way back to where you were supposed to be, or you may even wind up in a place that is better than where you were. You can trust that God will be the perfect lifeguard and will guide you back to shore.

You see, God is not interested in your demise. He wants you to trust Him and not struggle against that situation alone. He wants you to know that He is always there – standing by. He will never leave you nor forsake you. God is not interested in seeing you drown when difficult circumstances come. Yet, in the midst of those circumstances, he wants to make sure that you learn how to swim.

So, submit to the learning and you will never regret that you did. I learned how to swim in the pool and in life. Now, I am comfortable in the waters of life. It does not mean that I like it when the sea swells come, it just means that I am not consumed and will not drown because I know that I can “relax and float” through the problem because God is on my side.

He wants you to walk (or shall I say swim) in that knowledge as well.