Through Water, Through Fire, Not a Walk on the Beach

Sometimes it takes work to grow up. Sometimes it’s hard, and it hurts. Sometimes you mess up and fall flat on your face.

And getting back up again hurts like Hell.

Sometimes there’s just enough grace, love, and forgiveness to cover you even when you have fallen.

Work is hard. No duh. I mean work getting yourself to be a healthy human being, simply functioning through a bad day with a smile and a laugh feels like dying. But sometimes it’s what we have to do. It’s not what we want to do, and it’s exhausting.

I’m reminded of the “Footsteps in the Sand” poem. I think what everyone focuses on is how Jesus carried the man through the hard times.

But what Christians are so reluctant to admit is that the man felt alone. When there was one stupid set of footprints in the sand the man didn’t feel carried. He felt alone, dejected, and hurt that Jesus wasn’t with him.

And Jesus does carry us, but I take comfort in the fact that when the storms in our life come, when we have to hike up a 90 degree slope on that beach, it’s normal to feel alone. We’re not, but it feels like it.

And so what happens to praising God for carrying us? We still feel like we have fought all of the battles. And sometimes it feels like our work that gets us through. It may not be, but it sure feels like it.

I take comfort in Philipians 1:18b-19: 

“Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that by your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance”.

See, I think Paul felt alone. But he saw through the storm clouds to the fact that he wasn’t alone. He may not have felt carried, but he felt protected.

And that’s really what we want, isn’t it? Not just to be carried through the bad times. In fact, Isaiah says “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you walk through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned."

God protects us, but we still have to choose to walk through the fire.