falling up

Every time my eyes hit the clear-blue water, I saw little kids running and splashing in the shallows. Yet almost all of them while being watched with a steady, careful eye of an adult were wearing life vests & floaties. So why, I ask, if we're in the shallowest part of the pool and you're watching, would they need a floatie?

As a safety-net, popped in my head.

So that if you happened to be distracted for a but a millisecond too long and couldn't see your beloved fall down fast enough to pick them up, they would bob right back up to the top of the water, disoriented, but unharmed. 

And that's exactly what I think is wrong.

We are so afraid to fall that we surround ourselves so nothing can go wrong.

We build our castle tall, complete with a unbreakable fortress and equipped with an army, but we forget who we serve.

You see, we serve a God who breaks unbreakable walls down. The one who wants us to trust Him so much that He is willing to crumble everything around just so we have nothing left but to trust.

We say it's not trust we lack, no, it's the world that's a harsh and bitter place, we're only protecting ourselves. 

We weave the net of safety around ourselves. If we happen to fall, we fall into our what seemed perfect, but always unfinished net. Instead of falling in the arms of the Almighty and letting Him stand us up, we struggle to get out of the holes we thought we filled in our net that we oh-so-selfishly weaved.

But maybe this is too real for you; maybe I'm reckless and naive. 

Maybe you say that you wanna trust fully but you aren't quite ready.

I thought I was strong by myself and God made me stronger.

But then, I fell. 

I fell into that net like I had so many times before. It only caused me to struggle. I said "God. why, if you love me so much would you let me fall and not catch me!?"

I didn't realize that I had only stopped Him from catching me.

I wove the net and thought that I was strong enough to push myself back.

When I finally got out, I had a fleeting thought. It happened to be there just long enough for me to grasp it; "What if I fell into God?"

What if I laid myself down and fell not down, but up? 

What if I made myself so vulnerable and raw that I didn't weave the net?

I didn't go about stringing the ropes together and leaving holes.

I didn't have assurance that if I fell I would have a plan B.

So that's what I did. I put certainty in knowing that my God loves me enough to lift up His hand and catch me.

Time came around, and I fell again.

But this time was different. 

Somehow I knew that it was okay to fall because when I landed, it wasn't a struggle to get up. 

It wasn't graceful but I could feel the grace.

I didn't want to fall but I realized that it made my trust in God stronger and it opened up the door for me to help other people believe more.

Psalm 37:23-24 

"The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand."

All you have to do is trust.

In a world that's so easy to fall into, trust in God. 

It's not easy, but it's freeing.

These are strong words, but they come with much love,

jr

P.S. What do you guys think of a Q & A? If you're for it, leave some questions below!