When I am Discouraged

When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.”
Isaiah 43:2

This past week I received a message from a long-time friend. She was hurting. As I prayed for her a memory bobbed to the surface of a time I nearly drowned on the rapids of the Santiam River.

The rivers in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon are snow melt, and race toward the sea over basalt boulders. Amid whooping and hollering I watched my big brother navigate his air mattress over the twists and turns of the turbulent waterway. Seemed a fun journey. However, a friend and I made the mistake of sitting up for a picture to be taken. The air mattress where we perched took on water and pitched me out. Leaping from shore, a stranger snagged my arm and hauled me out while Alice lay down and safely completed the journey.

Inviting lagoon blue waters are soothing at first glance. Especially when in a tropical clime with palm trees clapping their fronds in a slight breeze. But life’s seas can suddenly turn a turbulent gray, waves that were gentle can grow and push you against the crusty rock bottom. Surprised, you come up for air; notice your stinging knees are bruised and bleeding.

When I am discouraged, I’m like a swimmer being sucked away from the shore by a rip tide. I don’t notice that I’m easing away from safety, for often the waves are soothing and gentle. Beyond the reef, where I’m no longer sheltered, I struggle and struggle until, exhausted, muscles aching from the effort to retrace my path, I sink.

Have you ever experienced life coming in waves? So did Elijah, hanging out by a brook, or Jonah hiding by the scrubby bush. And then there is the story of Ruth, a young woman whose plans of a future life disappeared in her husband’s dying breath.

I’ve earned my junior life saving certificate so I KNOW what to do in case of water emergencies. My arrogance and can-do mantra can lead to disaster and has. The only life ring is Jesus. Will I grab for Him, hold on or continue to flail my weary arms, thinking I know the side stroke, butterfly, breast stroke, front crawl, backstroke?

The best way to overcome what is tossed my way is look to Him. Trust that He will spit me out of my ‘whale’ experience when it is time and leave the tide and me on a beach of His choosing. Can’t say it’s fun to live in Southeast Asia during Vietnam when I never knew if my hubby was coming home from a medical evac mission. Sometimes Bangkok belly overcomes careful hygiene, train toilets are clogged or familiar foods unavailable. I am not my own. Bought with a price I’m to serve others. That can mean discomfort, illness, or loss of loved ones. The riches I’ve found in the roiling seas is that God is there. He knows that I’m inundated and provides exactly what I need.   

Tumbling

Walking on life’s shore
It’s best to don God’s life-saving equipment.
One never knows
When a rogue wave
Will suck you into danger.

When crying for more—
Of Him,
His provision,
His contentment,
He offers hope to the sorrowful,
Life to the brave,
And peace to the strivers.
                          j.m.mirich

Spreading Joy

‘You make known to me the path of life,
You will fill me with joy in Your presence,
With eternal pleasures at Your right hand.’
Psalm 16:11

Joy to the world is chorused this time of year. But slathering people with joy should be our daily offering. I’d like to spread His joy so thickly that it oozes into pores and remains a sweet fragrance to those who receive.

I don’t feel called to give the transitory happiness the world seeks through pleasure, ease, comfort and money. I have had all of these ‘gifts’ and they disappeared like a river mist when the sun pierces into the shrouded places. Light penetrates. When sun dispels darkness, it brings clarity and shadows fall in the hidden areas of the heart.

‘Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer.’ Romans 12:12

Today war assails Sudan, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Lustful eyes covet empty seas, Taiwan, and the ancient silk road connecting China with Europe. I would love to harmonize in ‘What the World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love, but I fear the world doesn’t know true love, only lust. For the love that I seek is sacrificial. What the world needs is hope which begats joy. 

 
I have told you this,
So that My joy may be in you
And that your joy may be complete.
John 15:1

His gift to His followers is a joy that is unspeakable, unending and full of glory. How do I embrace this joy when the world shudders in fear? I seek the joy giver, the one who graced the earth with creation, brought life from nothing and has created an unimaginable place for His family to be with Him. His word gives me hope which helps me to see in the midst of the earth’s labors that there is joy in a smile, a warm greeting or a note written in love.

Will you join the seed spreaders and pick up an overflowing basket of joy to bathe our troubled, war-torn world?