“As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.”
Psalm 103:15-18
Today I felt the power and presence of the Almighty Father in a big way. Like when he asked Peter to
come to Him and walk on water. Or when he literally calmed the storm with 3 words. Peace, be still. I was on a pond. Not the ocean. Not a big lake. A pond. It was windy and I had never kayaked before alone. I'm not a strong swimmer and wasn't wearing a life vest. However, I insisted that my 9 yr old son wore his as I wasn't a bit worried for my sake.
We had two kayaks and Grammys large metal canoe. Going across the lake, Savannah was in one kayak and Daulton and Patience were in another. Which left myself, Trinity, Jordan,Titus, Elijah and Dale in the canoe. The water was pretty choppy and the wind was going against us as we paddled towards the little island we were headed for across the lake, over a mile away. It took us about an hour. Dale said it should be easier and quicker going back as the wind would be against our backs giving us more speed. Little did he know the trouble that wind was going to cause us. I proceeded to get into the sturdier of the two kayaks along with Titus as I had never been in one alone before, I didn't want to risk being in one that might tip over more easily. Savannah took the same one she had and we began paddling back toward shore. Dale, Daulton, Jordan, Patience, Elijah and Trinity were in the canoe. As we got going I was excited and I was having fun. But the wind had picked up so much, I was really struggling to paddle and keep it on course.
Dale and I had both paddled in the canoe on the way across the lake and my arms were tired and I took several breaks within the hour. So as I was the only one paddling my arms got tired very quickly. I looked back to see where Savannah was wondering if she was having any trouble and right when I looked at her, her kayak rolled over and she was gone out of sight! One of the scariest moments of my life until I saw her little head pop back up out of the water. This is not a very deep Lake and it has lots of large rocks and she wasn't wearing a lifevest, let alone a helmet so I was thankful that she didn't bump her head.
From that point on it just got worse for me and Titus. The wind was strong and my arms are so weak, twice our little kayak almost tipped over, and in those moments we took on quite a bit of water. Titus was very scared and began to cry. I of course comforted him and told him not to worry and assured him that it was God that controls the waters he would protect us. I'm not gonna lie I was scared. It took two people paddling an hour to get across so even one person paddling only half an hour was still going to be tiring for me.That was assuming that I could get back in half the time because the wind was at my back. But that wind was no help, twice it spun my kayak around in a circle and I let it. I could not fight the wind or strength of the waves. And when I felt like I couldn't lift my arms I just prayed out loud “God give me strength” over and over and Titus was scared and I told him to pray “Jesus give mommy strength”.
Really, He is my strength. He only gave me what I needed when I needed it, not before. It took us 45 minutes to reach land. And that land was still several hundred yards from the landing we were aiming for. But my arms were so tired and I was so worried, we just got to the shore and it didn't matter which part of the shore. Quite relieved, Titus and I both got out of our kayak and drug it up onto land. We looked out across the lake and saw that Dale had managed to help rescue Savannah and her kayak and they weren't too far behind us. Thankfully they made it to the proper landing. We all met up and embraced, glad everyone was alright and that God protected us all. A happy ending.
Recapping our adventure and thinking about what a wonderful God we serve that I can feel fear and security all in one moment. I had authentic fear. I knew there was no way I was making it to shore with my own strength. But with God all things are possible!
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
Psalm 28:7
I am helped! It may sound silly or small but to me it was big. My God saved me. When it was not within my control to fight the wind or the waves and the strength of my own muscles began to fail me, God stepped in. He stepped in between me and my weakness with his great strength. Hallelujah!❤️
