S-T-rength Zone

I can remember teaching Brewer, our firstborn, to swim. Funny, Brewer has never been real fond of water. As a little boy at the beach, he preferred to cruise the shore looking for fish and shells in the very shallow water. It took so much courage for him to jump into our arms in the swimming pool. We were the ones to feed him, bathe him, hold him, hug him, kiss him, and pray with him, but still he stood on the side of the pool and contemplated whether he should jump into our arms. WE have never given him a reason not to trust us, but he wavered in his willingness to just take the “plunge!” It was such a HUGE moment when he mustered the courage, closed his eyes and jumped!!! It only took one jump before he was wanting to do it over and over again. It was an “Aha moment” for sure. He finally overcame his fear and trusted us to catch him.

Trust is the T, or second letter, in operating in your God-designed “s-T-rength zone”. Yesterday we learned about surrender. Next is definitely Trust! On the Back 9, even for my own salvation, fear of the unknown kept me from trusting for a while. I had heard the message of knowing Jesus, but I had to stand on the “side” for a while before I mustered the courage and overcame the “fear” to jump into the arms of God. God is our Father. He loves us. HE WILL CATCH US WHEN WE JUMP TOWARDS HIM.

My life verse on the Front 9 has been Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight.” Life for me has had wins, losses, valleys and mountains, but over the last 51 years I have loved looking back and seeing God’s hand in all of it. It has been His hand and not mine. I can see clearly some difficulties were brought on by me personally not trusting or being completely surrendered to Him at times. I see that sometimes I was trusting and the difficulties I faced drew me closer to Him allowing my faith to grow, me to mature, and allowing me to see HIM more clearly. A life with Jesus doesn’t prevent the storms, but it does provide the “shelter” for living through them. Storms are inevitable in anyone’s life.

Trust is key in living a life surrendered to Jesus. God’s ways aren’t our ways. They are greater than anything we can think of on our own. Why wouldn’t you want to let the God who designed you and knows the number of hairs on your head lead your life?! He has the “helicopter view”; our vision is limited. He sees the beginning and the end. He can foresee the paths HE wants you to take and many times His way is the “road less traveled”. I have found this is how we see Him most clearly. He chooses things for us to do in our weakness so that we KNOW IT IS HIM ENABLING US!!!

It is a pretty amazing “life” when you allow the God of the universe to lead your life rather than relying on your limited understanding. Just like Brewer jumping into the water for the first time, he had no idea how exhilarating it would be until he did it. After that first jump, he wanted to jump in countless times. Get over the fear of what you might have to give up or what God might ask you to do. He has promised to make your “path straight!” Trusting Christ doesn’t make every problem go away. Problems will always be a part of life for the Christian and non-Christian alike. The difference is, when you let the “Problem Solver” lead, you are allowing an ALL-KNOWING, ALL-POWERFUL GOD to lead the way. He has all the answers.

Our job is to Surrender, then TRUST….……..Jump towards Jesus……into the S-T-rength Zone…..of your created purpose….you’ll never know how exhilarating it can be until you jump.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *