The Survival Float

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

Sunlight glittered on the swimming pool in front of me. I overheard an instructor speaking to a student who had been in the water for quite a while. He said, “It looks like you’re getting tired. When you’re exhausted and in deep water, try the survival float.”

Certain situations in life require us to spend our mental, physical, or emotional energy in a way that we can’t sustain. David described a time when his enemies were threatening him and he felt the emotional weight of their anger. He needed to escape the distress he was experiencing.

As he processed his feelings, he found a way to rest in his troubled thoughts. He said, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you” (Ps. 55:22). He recognized that God supports us if we dare to release our problems to Him. We don’t have to take charge of every situation and try to craft the outcome—that’s exhausting! God is in control of every aspect of our life.

Instead of trying to do everything in our own effort, we can find rest in God. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking Him to handle our problems. Then we can pause, relax, and enjoy the knowledge that He is sustaining us.

God, today I give my problems to You. I know that You are in control of everything and I believe You are willing to help me. Please help me to find peace in You.
From the website:  "Our Daily Bread"

Support

Sit down and enjoy a cup of tea (or coffee) and drink in the comfort of the Lord.....   "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice."   Ephesians  4:31

                                                   Support

                 ".....the Lord upholdeth the righteous."  Psalm  37:7

     We are told by botanists that certain plants which are too weak to support themselves by their own stocks must twine about other plants or objects to grow properly.  Sometimes the stems of such climbers attach themselves by spiral turns to their hosts; sometimes they cling to sturdy objects by putting out special twining tendrils.  Those who have watched such growing plants intently tell us that their tips move slowly in circles, successively turning to all points of the compass.  The bean is such a plant. Its twining motion is said to greatly accelerate as the plant grows older.  The tendrils at first may complete only one turn a day, but later they make as many as eight spirals in a twenty-four hour period.

     The naturalist, Balm, who made a special study of climbing plants, recognized twenty-five different families of them in which the twining is done with a waving motion toward the left, and ten others in which the climbing is done toward the right.  But all of them, to thrive, must climb!  Those which have no support and trail on the ground are usually stunted, unlovely, and fruitless.

     Nature, as well as Scripture, has its lessons.  The climbing plant is an illustration of the human life.  Every heart searches instinctively for its divine support.  Those who do not find such a stay are stunted, spiritually useless, and bring "no fruit to perfection."

     Has your life been entwined with that of the Savior?  Are you leaning on Him for eternal support?  Can you say with the psalmist,  "My soul followeth hard after thee:  Thy right hand upholdeth me?"  Are you climbing Heavenward?  If you are, then it is your duty to help some other struggling brother along the way, and thus in turn  "support the weak"  (1 Thessalonians  5:14).

From the book,  "Bread For Each Day"