Walking on Water

Several years ago, I was happily teaching fourth grade at Grace Baptist Academy.  I loved fourth-grade children. I still love them. They are energetic, funny, and eager to learn.  But something I heard in a faculty devotional made me wonder if I should think about a change.  Sheree Haley was the elementary principal at that time, and early in the year she challenged all of us to “get out of the boat” and trust God. 

I kept the little boat she gave us as a reminder. Now and then I would think about what “getting out the boat” might mean for me. I had recently finished a master’s degree in English (Rhetoric and Writing, to be specific) and wondered if I ought to think about teaching high school English. I have never been a fast decision maker, so I waited to say anything to anyone else.

Through a number of circumstances, God made it clear that moving to high school was His plan for me. In many ways, it did feel like getting out of a boat and walking on water. Some people I loved advised against it, but I really knew it was God’s leading in my life.  I was reminded of all this on Sunday morning when Lynn Tweedie sang these words: “Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders.”  For me, the school “up the hill” seemed like a wilderness without borders—without the comfortable definition and routine I had enjoyed for eleven years.

But here’s what I want you to know: It was absolutely the right move. I wouldn’t go back.  And I am learning that God often leads where we think we might not want to go—until we obey and see that it was a great idea. The singers Phillips, Craig, and Dean have a song that says nearly the same thing: “I know it’s safe here on the shore, but freedom is worth dying for” (“Freedom of the Sea”). And (Can you stand another song reference?) Kris Delmhorst says, “Why should we not go where all maps fail?” (“Light of the Light”).

If “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13), then I can go where He tells me to go and do whatever hard thing He has for me. You can, too. And you will almost certainly love it!

 

--Sherry Poff