Living Water by Solveig Jobbins

Cover: Taylor Brant

I remember when I was first learning to surf I struggled with duck diving for so long. Every time a wave would approach I would freeze up and stop paddling. What I didn’t realize was that I was losing all of my momentum and was actually making it so much harder on myself to make it past the wave. I would just stop and say out loud, “I’m not gonna make it, I’m not gonna make it!”

Even now when a set starts rolling my way, I’m tempted to freeze up and to not keep paddling towards it. Instead of trying to make it past it/have more strength from my momentum to make it through, false ideas suddenly hit like: if I just don’t move, maybe it will disappear, or maybe the most effective thing to do is give up and just take the beating. 

Sometimes what life brings our way feels like this, doesn’t it? It’s like a wave full of unknown, confusion, heartbreak, doubt, or pain that starts rolling towards us from the outside that we can see on the horizon and start to feel before it even hits. The weakness of human nature might make us want to stop moving forward. We may feel like trying to run away from the challenges of life, letting our hearts go numb as to avoid what may seem like too much to handle, or we lose hope by predicting the worst to happen and we stay in the impact zone.

Heavy waves of life will come our way but we can move forward. I believe God calls us to do this. He doesn’t expect us to do it without him though; we’re not usually strong enough to nor do we have that kind of endurance. He is the momentum moving us forward and with Jesus we have everything we need to keep going. I feel so strongly to share this encouragement to continue forward in pursuing the purpose that the Lord has given each of us individually and to turn to truth in the Bible and in prayer to have the strength and hope that’s needed.

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called...”  - 1 Tim. 6:12

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Phil. 1:6

Phil. 4:13, Luke 1:37, 2 Cor. 4:17-18