Lake Life

I am a lake girl. I grew up two minutes from Lake Murray in South Carolina, so I spent a lot of time there, especially during the summers. My dad and uncle both owned boats, so I am no stranger to riding in a boat on the lake. Even though we had a place to swim, sometimes we would take the boat out to another spot, drop the anchor, and then go swimming. If you’ve ever been in or near a boat that is anchored, you know that the boat doesn’t sit completely still. It can still move around and rock back and forth if there are any waves. If the anchor is secure, the boat won’t drift far, but it also isn’t immune to what is happening around it.

We are just like that boat. Just because God is our anchor in the waves doesn’t mean that we won’t experience storms around us. It doesn’t mean that we won’t feel the rocking of the water.

Lesson #1

Anchors do hold a boat in one general spot and prevent it from drifting too far away, just like a house’s foundation secures it to the ground and a plant’s roots keep it from blowing away. But, the amount of movement depends on the length of the rope connecting the anchor to the boat. The longer the rope, the greater the amount of movement that can occur.

Our relationship with God is a lot like this. If we aren’t firmly connected to God and don’t have a close relationship with Him, we will easily drift around. We won’t feel very grounded or secure. Being closer to God holds us more securely in place during the good and the bad!

Check out these related blog posts: “Rooted” and ”A Strong Foundation”.

Lesson #2

Still, even if an anchor is attached with a short rope, there will be movement. Having an anchor doesn’t prevent a storm from occurring. It doesn’t prevent waves from another boat driving by or from the wind blowing. Life happens, even if a boat is firmly anchored to the bottom of the lake.

Even if you have a relationship with God, you will still experience pain and hurt. So will the people around you. God never promised to make life perfect, even for His children. Jesus says in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (emphasis mine). Life happens, even when you are firmly anchored to God.

The Good Part: Hope

Let’s get to the encouraging part, shall we?! Within all that life that is happening around us, the waves that are rocking us back and forth and up and down, we still have an anchor. That’s the good news! God may not take away all the bad stuff, but He does promise to always be with us and never leave us (Joshua 1:9; Hebrews 13:5-6). He does promise to fight for us (Exodus 14:14; Deuteronomy 3:22). And, He does promise to comfort us (1 Peter 5:6-7) and give us rest (Exodus 33:14; Matthew 11:28-30) and peace (John 14:27; Philippians 4:6-7).

Life may be happening—crazy, painful, absolutely awful life—but you don’t have to be in it by yourself. You don’t have to handle it on your own. There is still hope in the world! Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure…” (I encourage you to read all of Hebrews 6 to get the bigger picture!) There is still a God that will hold onto you, that will anchor you in the middle of that crazy, painful, absolutely awful life.

The Gist

Yes, you will feel some rocking, and it may seem like it’s too much sometimes, but I can say with assurance that God’s got you! I can say this so confidently because I have experienced it in my own life, amid my own difficulties and pain. (You can read parts of my story here.) And, I’ve seen it in so many other peoples’ lives around me too!

Don’t let lesson number one and lesson number two cause you to miss out on lesson number three! It’s true that just because God is our anchor doesn’t mean that we won’t feel the rocking of the waves or drift away at times. It doesn’t mean that we won’t experience storms within and around us. Yet, no matter what is happening in life, we DO have an anchor in the waves at all times! We do have a God who can calm the storms  or get us through them because He is bigger than they are. We always have hope!