Tangled

It was her first swim of the season. Bentley, my yellow lab who has been handicapped in her hind legs from an accident years ago slivered into the pool as a seal would and started off to get the tennis ball that I had thrown towards the deep end. But on the way she got tangled up in the pool cleaning hose and she panicked and and could not get free. She couldn't get her legs past the hose and was having a hard time getting her head to stay above water. I reached in and grabbed her and set her free, but she no longer cared about the ball, she just wanted out. She was scared. So she swam over to the familiar steps, wanting nothing more to do with the swim and struggled to get out of the pool. She was not as strong or as confident as she was last year. I hope that she will regain her confidence and momentum as we will try again next time.But for now, we will wait a while to fetch the ball at least in the pool.

It is easy sometimes to overlook a potential danger lurking in our path. Something that tangles us up in heart or soul or emotions. We swim towards what we think is familiar territory and then we are snared by an interrupted intrusion that gets us off centered, off focus and in a terrible tangle that nearly drowns us. We feel like we are fighting for our lives when in fact if we would just settle down a bit and not panic, we could gracefully redirect our footing and free ourselves of the calamity at hand. Sometimes the harder we fight to get free the more waves of confusion we render. And it scares us because we don't know to be free of something that we have gotten into.

I was scared for Bentley as I watched her struggle, and got down and helped her as soon as I realized she was hardly able to get a breathe and was not going to be able to free herself. Maybe you have been in that situation, or maybe you have witnessed someone else being in that spot. It is a helpless feeling. We need help ...it is essential for our freedom, but we fight it, and often try to struggle for freedom ourselves when we are over our heads in a situation that only God knows how to free us from. Sometimes we get so tangled up that we are not in a position to seek help but thankfully someone on the sidelines cares enough to extend it to us in spite of our fretful flailing.

God is that someone. It matters not what kind of a fix we have gotten ourselves into, he is watching from the sidelines and reaches down in our defense to help us. Maybe through a sideline someone, maybe through an unexpected set of circumstances that he allows in our reach (a lifering), or maybe he settles us down long enough to where we can regain our bearings with him and free ourselves through the confidence that we have in Him, from the tangible bindings that have kept us captive.

We get tangled up in relationships, in worries, in self manufactured scenarios, in hurdles, in trying to keep up, in things that do not go as planned, in finances, in decisions, in plans, in parenting, in jobs...and we struggle, sometimes out of total frustration and sometimes out of panic, to be freed from the snares that are wrapped around us. We seek freedom, all of us do. But the true act of freedom for any of us comes from the help that God is willing to give us at any moment of any day. His hand of freedom is extended to us and he is right there to deliver us from that which is making us feel like we are drowning. But in order for his help to be a success we have to induce within us a force of trust and faith, in HIM, into the process.

Bentley knew I was helping her...even in her panicked state she was trying desperately to swim towards me. That is what God wants us to know of him. That no matter what kind of trouble we are in, if we look to him with expectation and a true belief in his power and able ability to free us, then we will find ourselves in a unquestionable state of peace that defies the counter status of turmoil. God does settle us down, when we allow our focus to be shifted his way instead of on the circumstances at hand.

We can fret at the fury of tangled situations or we can calmly and faithfully submit our tangle unto the Lord, and believe that he will indeed set us free of the snares that are choking us and causing us to lose our breath. There are always going to be unknown intrusions that trip us up and entangle us, but God is always there standing on the sidelines watching for his opportunity to help and direct us. May we seek Him for freedom and not panic when we have become suddenly entrapped. For God is able and willing and faithful on every front to come to our rescue and be our help in times of trouble.

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Isaiah 46:4
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

Are you flailing in fear or panicked over a situation that is over your head and pulling you down, then ask God for his help. He hears your cries, he will answer your call.

Dear Lord, Thank you for extending your continued hand of freedom and for giving us a security that all is well with in your bounds. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!