Deep Waters…

Today during the fitness class that I lead we focused on Isaiah 43:1-4. It says:

But now, this is what the Lord says—

he who created you, Jacob,

he who formed you, Israel:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name, you are mine.

2 When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

3 For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

I give Egypti for your ransom,

Cush and Seba in your stead.

4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,

and because I love you,

I will give people in exchange for you,

nations in exchange for your life.

And so as we exercised, I talked through each of these statements.

“FEAR NOT.”

Truth is, this one is hard for me. Bottom line, when I choose to fear, I’m telling God that I don’t trust His promises. That I don’t trust His provision and His plan.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”
Deep waters of difficulty will come. In fact, I’m in the midst of some now. Many of you are also.

Here’s the truth: When in deep waters we have two choices: DROWN or Swim and GROW STRONGER. Is swimming in deep water easy? No. But if we do, if we CHOOSE to grab hold of Him and allow Him to save us, WE GROW STRONGER. The choice to go THROUGH the deep waters grows us in our faith, grows our trust in Him, and grows our willingness to step out of our comfort zone.

You choose: DROWN or TRUST.

“When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end- because He is GOD, your PERSONAL God, the Holy of Israel.” (MSG translation)

Our PERSONAL God. OURS. You are known, loved, designed and cherished.

“He has CALLED US BY NAME”

See, the world and satan call us by our sins. They call us by our ‘lack’ or our ‘excess’.

Too slow, too old, too fat, too dumb, too loud, too quiet, not good enough, not kind enough, not patient enough…the list goes on.

But God, He calls us by our name. He looks at us and says “Good. GOOD job. Keep going. Keep trusting me. Keep choosing to show up and put one foot in front of the other. I love you. I LOVE YOU. I’m here. I will not let you drown. I will not let the fire burn you. That mountain that is looming over you right now? It’s just a pebble under my feet. Yes, it’s over your head. But it’s under MY FEET. YOU ARE ENOUGH. TAKE MY HAND. TRUST ME. GO deeper. Don’t fear deep waters. Don’t fear trials. DON’T FEAR. I have CALLED YOU BY NAME.”

I’m not sure why I felt like I needed to post this today, and I don’t know that anyone will even read it. But I know that I often need the reminder of TRUTH to drown out all the noise that comes from the world.

Today, you get to choose- DROWN or GROW STRONGER. FEAR or TRUST. World’s names for you, or GOD’S view of you. YOU CHOOSE.

I’m praying that you choose well!