The Deep End

“Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction…Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7.

When my niece was a small child my sister was introducing her to the pool teaching her to respect water. She gradually got my niece to the point where she was going to catch her as she jumped in the water which was over her head. Over and over Benay, with outstretched arms encouraged Kylie to jump into the deep end by counting to three. I can still see Kylie on the side of pool biting her fingernails wanting to jump but fearful to jump into the deep end. One of the cutest things she ever said was when Benay had counted out ‘One...two…’ and Kylie screamed, ‘No three Mommy! No three!’

There have been some ‘deep ends’ in my own life where I pleaded with God, ‘No three Lord! Please no three!’ Deep ends are scary, and we will all face them at some point in our lives. One day we are wading through the normalcy of our lives, only to suddenly feel the drop below our feet. We lack control over many of the things that affect us, so we had better focus on the Words of God who with outstretched arms will catch us when we jump. His words will cover us with encouragement and splash us with refreshing comfort. Our verse today tells us that our success is not through our own courage, but courage obtained through the word of God. Many times when we find ourselves in the deep end we take short cuts to get out instead of trusting God. ‘True courage has little to do with earthly bravery and everything to do with heavenly focus. Instead of keeping our gaze on the deep end before us or the shallow end behind us, let’s keep our gaze steady on our heavenly Father who is always with us. He will never leave you or let you down.’ Ready – Having Courage When Facing the Unknown, Heather M Dixon, p. 34.

This past week our pastor made a statement that was very powerful for me when considering our deep ends. He said, ‘We may be powerless to prevent but we are empowered to prevail.’