Staying Afloat when Life Tries to Drown You

Do you know how to survive being suddenly hurled into deep water without an exit in sight?

Head back. Arms out. Lay down. Breathe.

So simple. Lay back and relax. Let the water carry you along. Keep your eyes open, use your hands to gently steer yourself clear of obstacles. When you finally come into view of a way out of the water, then exert some effort to pull yourself toward it and out to safety.

It’s not much different than finding yourself splashing into life circumstances that make you feel like you’re drowning, is it? The solution to not going under in life is similar.

Look up to the One who is your help. Rest in His character and his upholding hand. Breathe in His peace that passes all understanding. Keep your eyes open for His way of escape, and when you see it, allow His strength to help you move toward it.

So simple.

The success of both scenarios, however, rests in our initial response to the surprise of our situation. If we panic in either case, we drown. The more we fight the water, the more we wrestle with life’s circumstances, the more exhausted we get and the less effective our efforts. Our response must be trained to be one of trust. In the water, we have to trust that the scientific laws of body composition and hydrodynamics will work. In life, we have to trust that God’s character is good, His ways are righteous, and His love for us is perfect.

How does one train that reflexive response, though? How do you get to a place where your automatic instinct is to put yourself in what looks like a vulnerable posture and let yourself be carried along?

In the water, we take swimming lessons. We go to a known, safe place with a trained, skilled teacher. We try out the skills. Little by little, we gain trust that the scientific laws hold and that our body, in the right position, will stay afloat. Soon, we’re adopting that position independently and playing with how to return to that safe place no matter where our positioning begins.

In life, the same principle holds. In the peaceful times, seek out those who are skilled at trusting God. Look for those people who seem to ride on top of life’s waves instead of being sunk by them. Ask them to teach you the skill sets: prayer, holding onto Bible truths, remembering the testimony of God’s faithfulness, listening to Holy Spirit. Practice, practice, practice those skills in the kiddie pools of life, when the consequences aren’t so big: when your day goes a little sideways, when a plan doesn’t go as planned, when you get a minor sickness. The more that you test and find the spiritual laws of God are consistently trustworthy, and that He is a good God who wants good for you, the more you will find your response to increasingly large problems being one of rest and trust.
​
It's a process. There will be days that you swallow some seawater. There will be times that you struggle against the current in your own strength before you remember to rest in Him. You’ll find that you identify so much with the disciples that walked with Jesus; desiring to trust Him and allow Him to be your safety, but also eternally grateful for His patience and gentleness with your weakness. There will, over time, become testimonies of you surviving shocking falls into a watery abyss, having righted yourself and found the surface, lain back and trusted in the Truth that upheld you, and made it safely to shore. Then you get to teach others to live and not drown!