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Topic: Peace (03/15/04)
TITLE: When God Sank My Boat By Margaret Woolington 03/18/04 |
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Margaret Woolington
I tried to not think about the dark, mysterious depths below my dangling legs. I concentrated instead on the small, inflatable ring that kept my head above the waves that nudged me back and forth. I wanted to struggle, kick, or swim toward something but there was no distant shore I could see that would give me refuge. I was helpless in an endless ocean.
“Help.” The word came out from my child voice. “Help”
I then heard what I thought to be God but His words were no comfort to me.
“I have sunk your boat,” He said.
Strange, I thought. I had not been aware that I was in a boat.
Again the voice spoke very clearly.
“I will rescue you but not yet. You need to be here for a while.”
The idea of floating alone in a small inner tube in the midst of an endless body of water stirred my “fight to survive mode.”
No, I thought. I will not float here helplessly and I began to paddle wildly with my hands. I slapped the water with my feet, not knowing or caring where I was headed only that I had to do something. When I was exhausted with my struggle, God spoke again.
“Thrashing attracts sharks.”
I recognized the truth of that but what was I supposed to do? .
“To trust is always your choice. When you can rest with complete faith that I am in your circumstances. I will be able to rescue you,” God said.
“All the earth and everything in it belong to you, Lord,” I answered and laid my head on his extended hand.
At that moment the water became smooth around me, gently washing me with a sense of ease. There was still no sign of land only an understanding that the sea beneath me would become ground under my feet when I was ready to walk on it in peace.
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” John 14:27