Encouragement

---

Without A Paddle!
By Missey Butler

The other morning I happened to be talking to a friend who very exasperatingly made the statement, “I feel as if I’m up a creek without a paddle!” As he continued to go into great lengths about his current plight, I remembered thinking, "I know exactly how he feels, I’ve made that journey up that same creek (paddle-less) myself, and it’s no fun." You would think by now I would have sense enough to check the boat beforehand! But somehow I never get around to it.

I began to mentally review my own spiritual journeys. How I eventually learned not to panic, but simply take a deep breath, acknowledge that God was in control, and immediately begin looking around for what was available to me.

There under the wooden seat of the boat, was my small wicker picnic basket which contained a red-checkered table cloth that I’d brought for spreading under a tree. I noticed along the inside of the boat was a long bamboo pole someone had used for a fishing rod. Before long, I had the checkered table cloth hoisted up and tied off at each end of the stick. After I’d done all I could, I would lower my head, whispered a prayer, and then patiently wait for God to intervene. Before long, though the air had been deadly still, I would begin notice a gentle stirring breeze, ever so softly, which gradually turned into a brisk north wind that would soon fill my colorful sail and cause me to swiftly glide along… homeward bound.

You see, God has His own “Search And Rescue” operation! He is more than ready to come to our aid at a moments notice. He likes it when we depend on Him, and He is always ready to answers our prayers by making a way, where there seems to be no way.

Will you allow God to bring you to a place of “smooth sailing,” even though you happened to have lost your paddle? He longs to rescue us from “life’s” little (and not so little) surprises and bring us safely… into shore.

“And the men were amazed and asked: “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” (Matthew 8:27). NIV

“Be Still and know that I am Lord.” (Psalm 46:10). NIV

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE