Growing up we didn’t take many extravagant trips aside from our yearly visit to the Washington Coast, which was always my favorite. When I was around 8 years old, my entire family including cousins, aunts, a uncles and grandparents took a trip to Hawaii! I don’t have many memories of that trip, except I do remember my mom telling the story of when I was swept out to sea in the undercurrent and immediately rescued by my Aunt who came running after me. I can’t imagine how terrifying that would have been for my family to watch but alas, I was swept out to sea, to deep waters, and I was rescued. Have you ever been in a place like that in your own life? Either literally or figuratively? I want to take you on a little journey of how I came to find my “life verse” and hopefully instill a little hope to whatever you may be going through.

Somewhere around my mid 20’s I found my self in a place of where everything was perfect, I had just recommitted my life to Christ and admittedly, became one of those people who prayed, read my bible and went to church because I thought that’s all it meant to be a Christian. Little did I know less than 10 years into my walk with Christ almost everything that I had worked for was gone and I realized I was a “reactive Christian” basically searching for anything spiritual to make me feel better. Flipping through my Bible to find anything to fill me with joy, I came across this:

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah43:2

I want to break this down a little:
God allowed the Israelites to walk on dry land through the Red Sea!
The band of priests carrying the ark of the covenant were able to walk into Canaan through the Jordan River that would have typically been overflowing.
Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego were thrown into a furnace emerged unharmed. God was with each of them just like He is with us.

They weren’t perfect, they made mistakes and they had moments or years of fear yet God is still God and He has stood by his promises.

To expand on my own struggle at one point I found myself divorced, having just been told I would never have kids and honestly feeling like I was forgotten by God. The rainbow after the storm came with finding love again and about to give birth to our miracle baby. Little did we know the next several years would be filled with uncertainty. Right after being born our son needed life saving surgery, several weeks later my mother passed away unexpectedly and last year we found out our son needed to have part of his lung removed! It felt like we were living in deep waters and rivers of difficulty surrounded by fires of oppression.

Here is some truth, God never once left our side. In the midst of the darkest moments we can see where He was parting waters, holding us afloat and keeping the flames from consuming us.

I have had to learn through years of practice and at times, prompting from friends, that God has never and will never push me to the side because of my past and that goes for you too!

During this COVID season, does it feel at times like you are in the midst of deep waters, with rivers of difficulty surrounding you and the fire of oppression is swiftly moving in? It is not my place to tell you what to do in each situation but I can promise you that just when we keep our eyes on the Lord, He will be with us, we will not drown and the flames will not consume us.