DROWNING

I absolutely love this picture.  I NEED one for my house or maybe it would get too familiar; too familiar like my salvation that I so often take for granted.  

I should be so thankful that Jesus saved me from drowning in my life of sin and rebellion, that He freed me from a life of misery but most importantly, a life that was headed straight for Hell.

He saved me from Hell but I was headed there because of my love of sin, LOVE OF MEN,  my need for constant physical and emotional attention, addiction to alcohol and diet pills, selfishness (although that one He's still working on, along with lots of others!)  materialism, vanity, a love of money, debt, lying, slandering others, trashy mouth, love for adultery, lusting, dishonor of my parents, wanting what others had, disrespect and dishonor of my husband, hating people, pride and the list goes on and on.   

Have I arrived?  Ha! No definitely not!  First Timothy 1:15 says, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came in to the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."  

On another note, this picture is refreshing for today.   There are more days than not when I feel like I am drowning in ungratefulness, pride, anger, frustration, selfishness and more.   That's when I remember, "Oh wait, all I need to do is fall on my knees and beg Him, just as Peter did when walking on the water,  save me Lord from this life of little faith.  Do I do it?  No, in my pride I continue on in my misery, thinking I can fix it myself and that surely it has to get better and of course......it doesn't.   But when I do, it's amazing!  I can't explain it to you.  Somehow Jesus takes my wee little, insignificant plea of surrender and gives me a peace that is unexplainable.  Oh, my issues don't go away, things don't get better but I have the peace to handle those things in a Godly way.  Those hard things are here for our refinement.

One of my favorite bible teachers once said, "Your circumstances don't make you who you are, they simply reveal who you are."  For example, I could say, "I never yelled like this until I had all of these children. They make me so mad."  That's not the truth, I was an angry woman and the LORD used those children to squeeze the anger out of me and show me what's really inside. When you squeeze a lemon, lemon juice comes out.  If you're squeezed, what comes out? Does pride, disrespect, pouting, anger, jealousy, a need for control?  Jesus said in Luke 6:45, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

I am so thankful 18 years ago Jesus reached into the darkness and turned on THE LIGHT for me so I could see my need for Him.  Blessings this week!

For extra reading:  Matthew 14:29-33