Devotions by Rachel #10

Devotional #10- Waves around “Waves around, oh Lord I’m drowning, I cry to you, oh Lord I need you. I can’t go through this trial without you. So I’m asking you to please help me through these waves.”   When I was 9 years old I wrote the lines above as the first verse to a song. My parents were missionaries in India, and persecution had hit us hard. It felt like I was treading water as the waves crashed around us. I think we’ve all felt this way at some point in our lives. Have you ever gone swimming in the ocean and gotten past the tide? It can be dangerous because the water starts to suck you farther away from the shore. You have to fight against the pull of the mighty ocean to swim your way back to the sand. Sometimes the tide is so strong it feels impossible to make it back without help… You use all your might to swim against it yet you only manage to stay in place. The waves come and hit you in the face. Exhaustion takes ahold of your body. And it feels like you can’t make it back. That’s how different seasons of our life can feel. How can I make it through another day? How can I manage the challenges of this season? The only answer I’ve found is in Jesus. I can’t make it through another day without Him. My body would give out. But I look to Him to empower me to keep going. “Jesus, help me!” And He does. It’s not always obvious. Sometimes I don’t see how much He helped until I look back and realize there’s no way I could have made it without Him empowering me. It’s kinda like when you’re a kid you actually think that when you were playing cards you sometimes beat your parents. You worked hard, you focused, you paid attention. But let’s be real, you were 4 years old and your parents could beat you with their eyes closed. I didn’t have this realization until I was in my twenties and I was playing cards with my 5 year old niece. I could beat her every time. But I often helped her, gave her hints, or purposely just lost so that she could sometimes win. One day she may look back and realize that she couldn’t have won at that age without a little help from her auntie. I now look back at different years of my life and realize that when I asked Papa in Heaven to help me, He did. Because there was just no way I could have made it through without Him. So if the waves are surrounding you, ask the Lord to help you. He will somehow, some way. And one day you may look back and see how He did. Psalm 18:6 “In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” Psalm 138:3 “On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 “…he (the Lord) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”