Life Saver

A lot of people I know, myself included, have been dealing with a lot of other people who have been causing them grief lately. It seems like there’s some kind of plague going around, with people bringing lawsuits that are frivolous and inane or doing really obnoxious and unethical things that make other people want to or need to bring lawsuits. It seems that all efforts to be civil and cordial and congenial and honest are being thrown by the wayside so that people can cover themselves and enrich themselves and basically not care about anyone else.

I know I’m probably exaggerating, but it just seems that every day I get a phone call or hear about someone doing something really selfish and awful. And every time it happens, I find myself talking to whoever it is who is calling about the things I have been dealing with that are equally frustrating because of the selfish and unethical things I have been dealing with in a situation in my life. I keep being so thankful that I have God to rely on, because if I didn’t I would have thrown in the towel long ago, or I would have really lost my temper which basically amounts to the same thing. When we allow people to push us to the point where we’re losing it at them, they’ve won, no matter how frivolous and untruthful their accusations against us are.

The other reason I am really thankful that I have God to rely on is because when people call me with their woes I can share with them how He’s been helping me through mine. I had a conversation with someone just recently when she was asking me about my situation, “What are you going to do?” And my answer is, as it always is, pray, ask God for wisdom, and wait and see what happens. I don’t make any decisions on my own any more – I’ve messed too much stuff up in the past and I know I can’t rely on my own judgment. And the beauty of God is that He really is all knowing and all powerful – He knows what’s going to happen and He’s the one who makes it happen, so why wouldn’t I ask Him if I can?

And that’s the beauty of God as well – that we can ask Him. All day long if we want to, and He never gets tired of hearing our voices. He wants us to ask Him and He wants us to listen to Him. He knows we need His help and He wants to give it. Since I’ve been born again the only time I have ever gone wrong is when I haven’t waited to ask His advice. When I react to things without asking Him, or worse, if He offers advice and I don’t listen to it for whatever dumb reason – usually it’s because I don’t think it’s really Him talking or I’m distracted or I’ve gotten upset and emotional – if I don’t listen to Him even when He’s giving me advice when I haven’t bothered to take the time to ask, even then when things get messed up because of my own mistakes, He always gets me through whatever mess I’ve made.

James 1:5-6 tells us, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.”

I’ve been on the ocean and on rivers when the wind is driving the waves. There are times they can go at cross purposes, a rip tide that’s called, and it’s so dangerous that you can be dragged out to sea and drowned easily. There are other times when the waves and surf are so powerful that even though there isn’t a dangerous tide warning, they can still pull you under if you don’t know how to surf them. And if you have fear and doubt about the water, even smaller waves can keep you from enjoying a perfectly beautiful day at the beach.

I grew up on the water, spending time at the beach for weeks at a time in the summer. I was nearly drowned at least once, and dragged out in tides more than that. I’ve been on boats when the wind was so strong that just getting the sails down took all of my strength, and I know now that it was an angel that helped me do it. But for some reason I’ve never been frightened of the water, I just watch the tide warnings and pay attention to what I feel when I’m walking into the waves. There is a kind of sixth sense you get when you’ve spent a lot of time on the water, and you know what you can handle and what you can’t. But even so there are still times when you get caught off guard, and that’s when even the most seasoned sailor or swimmer will cry out to God.

I’ve had that experience  many times in my life before I was born again. Times when things that I thought I could handle got out of control and I had nothing left but to get on my knees and pray. And every time I did, God showed up and got me through it, and then I’d go right back to the same old way of living my life again, without even so much as saying thank you. It’s amazing how patient God is with such an ungrateful wretch like me.

And that’s really the beauty of God. No matter what kind of mess we get into, whether of our own making or that it just came up out of the deep blue sea, He doesn’t leave us there to drown, even if we’re not listening to Him or even trying to hear His voice. He’ll show up again and again and again, and save us from ourselves and from every other plague that tries to bring us down. And then finally, one day when we finally see our folly in believing we were able to live without Him, He opens His arms wide and says come back home.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan