{"id":1268,"date":"2015-06-02T05:40:16","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T05:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/?p=1268"},"modified":"2015-06-03T00:40:32","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T00:40:32","slug":"drowning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/drowning\/","title":{"rendered":"Drowning?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hands-Drowning-Sea\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I just heard of two friends who lost love ones recently. Bad news like these can send someone feeling confused or even numb. I can\u2019t imagine what you are going through right now \u2014 trials, suffering, heartache, pain. But I can tell you that whatever it is, it\u2019s not too big for God. His grace can cover it, and your heart can be made new. God gives refreshing to those who desire for it. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Honestly, I do feel like I am drowning from time to time. Do you? In those times when I felt like I was drowning, I thought God was off in a distant land. Later I realized that\u2019s when He is most near.<\/p>\n

Whoever you are, God is near you too.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you heard of this story. I too heard it from someone else but let me relate it again. Some friends went swimming in a river. It was spring, and the glacier runoff had made the river pretty dangerous. Nonetheless one of the guys jumped in, got caught in the current, and was taken to the dangerous part of the rapids. One of his friends on the shore was a lifeguard, and all the other friends looked at him to do something. He just stood there, though, not moving, just staring at his friend. The others began to panic and yell at him and tell him to go save his friend! Still nothing. They looked out into the river and saw their friend struggling desperately.<\/p>\n

\"anti-drowning-system-swimming-pools-public-52586-1550669\"<\/a>However, to their dismay, in an instant the struggle stopped. The drowning friend could no longer fight and began to drown. When that happened, the lifeguard quickly jumped in and with a few swift strokes rescued the friend and brought him to shore. With the adrenaline wearing off, the group yelled at the lifeguard, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you jump in earlier? He could\u2019ve died!\u201d He calmly looked at them and said, \u201cI had to wait until he fully gave up. Unless he stopped fighting, he would have dragged me under and drowned me with him. But the minute he gave up, I could save him.<\/p>\n

Although Jesus Christ has already come to be our savior yet we still fall into the \u201cwaters\u201d and feel like drowning. It could be a huge problem, feeling depressed, heartache and suffering. Just like the lifeguard, sometimes that\u2019s what it\u2019s like with Jesus. He just wants us to surrender, and when we do, He comes and gets us. The waves might be crashing overhead, but in that moment, when it looks like we might die, His grace scoops us up and brings us life. And because we finally give up, we know it was Him who did all the saving.<\/p>\n

If you are going through some of form of struggle right now, ask your self, \u201cWill I totally surrender to God?\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know where you are or where you\u2019re coming from, but I know Jesus has a better plan for your life than you do. He is a better king of your life than you are. No one has caused me more hurt, shame, guilt, and pain than me. Jesus knows, and He rescues me. He can do the same for you.<\/p>\n

The Bible is very clear. It says, \u201cAre you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you\u2019ll recover your life. I\u2019ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me \u2014 watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won\u2019t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you\u2019ll learn to live freely and lightly.\u201d \u2014 Matthew 11:28-30 <\/p>\n

Relax; you don\u2019t have to have it all figured out.<\/p>\n

All you need to do is come to Him. If you\u2019re thinking, I have nothing to give or nothing to offer Jesus right now, that\u2019s exactly where He wants you. He just wants dependency; He just wants you.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to clean yourself up before you come to Jesus. You are precious to him even when you were yet in your sins. Just as the scripture says, you be with Jesus, and behold! \u2013 He cleans you up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just heard of two friends who lost love ones recently. Bad news like these can send someone feeling confused or even numb. I can\u2019t imagine what you are going through right now \u2014 trials, suffering, heartache, pain. But I can tell you that whatever it is, it\u2019s not too big for God. His grace […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bermiedizon.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}