Jump in, the Water’s Scary!

Trust God. The bible tells us to… we tell each other to. But do we? How? When the rubber meets the road, does His presence make a difference in our daily challenges?

My sweet daughter had a job interview this week. This girl gets tied up in nerves before interviews. Always has. The higher the stakes, the more the nerves, and she really wanted this job. As we talked, I was searching for where God comes into this—how is His presence sufficient, as the bible tells us? God wants us to come to Him. I wanted my girl to experience His strength in her time of need.

So I prayed. I asked God to flood her with His peace. I’d prayed that for myself years ago when I first performed a solo. I’d asked God to flood me with peace as I walked up front, and He did. He showed me He was sufficient for me in those moments I needed Him.

I didn’t know if God would “grow her out of it,” so she would no longer get so nervous—He does that. Or would this stay with her always? He does that too. Like my friend who led seminars for thirty years and suffered gut-wrenching nerves every time he spoke! Yet, he said that nervousness kept him clinging to Jesus, every time. What was God’s view here?

Then God gave me a word picture. I imagine my daughter learning to dive. She wants to do it, but she can’t swim. So her daddy has to catch her. She gets better and better at diving, but her daddy still catches her. She is called upon to dive more often because she’s beautiful to watch, but still, Daddy has to catch her. Will she learn to swim so she doesn’t need her daddy? Perhaps. Or will he continue to catch her forever? Again, perhaps.

If she were a real diver, this would be silly, and possibly against Olympic rules.But, it’s just the kind of thing Jesus would set up, isn’t it? He actually did this with Paul, telling him three times that His grace was sufficient for him. He LOVES to catch us. We want to let Him. Jump into His arms.

All the beauty God wants to shine through our lives—to us and to others—is beyond our comfort zone. We require Him.

Our own thinking is an endless loop in our heads—Will I get the job? Am I qualified? Did I say something stupid in the interview?—ad infinitum, ad nauseam. That can suck us to the bottom of the pool in an instant. Jesus offers more than this.

I said to my daughter: “You can wait to ‘grow out of it,’ or simply resign yourself to misery in stress situations. Or, you can throw yourself off that board with abandon and know God will catch you. He’ll give peace you didn’t have. It’s this thing He does for you, because you’re His daughter. Now, you can both look forward to each new jump!” Yeah. I’ve got some jumping of my own to do.