"The deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able honestly to pray what He taught His disciples to pray:

'Thy Will Be Done'."

~Elisabeth Elliot

Monday, December 28, 2009

i think in word pictures

This whole time, I felt like I was on an icy lake...I was carrying a very large burden and I was scared that the extra weight would break the ice...At first, I stayed close to the shore because I knew that at any moment I could jump off to safety...there was also a Man on the shore that I knew would reach out His hand if the ice started to crack...In fact, the ice DID crack and instead of reaching my hand out for His, I ran away from crack further towards the center of the frozen lake, holding on to my burden as though it could be a life preserver with an impossible delusion that I could out run the crack...Before long, the growing crack reached my feet and I lost confidence in the ice and my burden. The further from the shore I got, the thinner and more uncertain the icy terrain became until I finally came to the end of myself and decided that I had to face the crevasse that separated me from the shore head on...of course, I couldn't take my burden with me on my return trek ...the weight of it would surely break the ice...so I let go of it and left it in the center of the lake...I didn't carefully watch my step, I ran with speed to the shore and reached for His hand.

2 comments:

Trevor's Mama said...

Jaclyn, this is an absolutely perfect metaphor for what we're going through!! I am so glad to know that you have run back to shore and are reaching only for His hand. I definitely think I'm on my way, but I'm having a harder time letting go of that burden in the middle of the lake than I thought. Only time, and Jesus can help me. God bless and I am so glad that He has shown you comfort and peace.

Nichole said...

Beautifully put ... oh that we would run to the Saviour the first time instead of heading toward the center of the lake in our own power and weighed down by our burdens that He so longs to free us from.