Paddling Against the Current

Spread the love

Have you ever tried to paddle a boat upstream? It’s extremely difficult.

When I was twenty-two-years-old, I was kayaking with a friend down south in the Keys. I was paddling as hard as I could upstream to get back through the inlet and to the boat landing. We had been paddling for several hours, and I was wiped out and dehydrated. I could feel the muscles in my arms burning. I was like a salmon coming home to its nesting grounds, pink, sunburnt and haggard.

I reached a moment during that paddle that I didn’t think I could make it any further. I could see the boat landing about 200 yards off, but it felt miles away. I felt my boat slowly and steadily moving in the wrong direction, and I began to panic.

Does life ever seem this way to you? You have hope, you know the outcome can be good, but you can’t seem to get anywhere. It feels just like paddling against the current. You trust God, but you don’t know how to make it to the next boat landing.

But that’s just it. I didn’t give up back then on the boat that day. I paddled harder, and I trusted that I could get through that current. I trusted myself…which is awesome! We should trust ourselves. But we need to trust God more.

When I was twenty-two, I thought if I just tried harder and worked harder, things would turn out right. And yea sometimes they did. But as I grew into adulthood and more things didn’t work out the way I had wanted them to; it was baffling for me. I just couldn’t understand.

Thankfully, God has a better way! He wants us to trust in Him. He wants us to rely on Him, His strength, not on our own strength in times of struggle and adversity.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5 ESV).

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 ESV).

Sometimes we have to paddle against the current in our own lives. God wants us to look at ourselves through repentance. When we realize that He wants us to change to become more like Him, it can be difficult to change our old habits and bad behavior.

As Christians, He also asks us to live differently than those of the world. He asks us to paddle against the popular culture of our times. If you are raising teenagers in this crazy world, I know you can identify with me, sweet momma!

Paddling against the current might also mean living differently from those who don’t know God. You might want to find mentors or friends who can offer you Godly advice, NOT worldly advice.

We inevitably will face struggle. But do we face it along with God? Do we pray, and trust and worship God through the struggle?

I hope you will trust in God and find your strength in Him and not in other people or in the things of this world, sweet momma!

Keep paddling upstream.

Be Blessed,

AllisonD

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephanie Shott
Latest posts by Stephanie Shott (see all)
Share