I recently went on a field trip with my daughter. We went on this same field trip last year so we knew we would be doing lots of walking and to wear good, comfy shoes. And it’s a good thing I am a planner and wore my good shoes because just as the tour was about to start, just after we climbed a ginormous hill to the apple orchard, my daughter asked me to carry her.
To be honest, she is way too big for me to carry her. Not only does it look awkward, but she’s heavy. But because I know she will not always like to hang out with me, let alone ask me to carry her around, I will take it while I can. I picked her up and carried her on my side, but soon realized she would be better off on my back. As I carried her from one side of the orchard to the other, we walked uneven ground. Sometimes the steps I took were hard and she would bounce around quite a bit which caused her to slip down by back. As she would slip down, she would ask me to re-position her and I would lift her higher on my back by shifting her weight back up. This repeated over and over. Walk, slip, stop, shift, walk, slip, stop, shift. We must have repeated this process about ten times when she began to get short with me. Ahem: She was short with me! And she began to do this huffy thing with her voice and she would stretch out the one syllable ‘mom’ into: “Mommmmmmmmmm-ugh”. “Lift me back uppppp-ugh.”
I stopped. I shifted. I walked. She slipped back down. “Mommmmmmmmmm-ugh”. “Lift me back uppppp-ugh. I feel like I’m falling.”
She wasn’t going to fall though. Her legs were wrapped around my waist and my arms were holding her up by her legs and my fingers were laced and locked together. “I’ve got you. You’re not going to fall.” I assured her. “But I feel like I ammmmmm-ugh. Please lift me back up.”
Pause. If there is any doubt, can I reassure you of this truth today? God’s got you. Despite you’re ‘feel-likes’, He is carrying you.
She wasn’t going to fall though. Her legs were wrapped around my waist and my arms were holding her up by her legs and my fingers were laced and locked together. “I’ve got you. You’re not going to fall.” I assured her. “But I feel like I ammmmmm-ugh. Please lift me back up.”
Pause. If there is any doubt, can I reassure you of this truth today? God’s got you. Despite you’re ‘feel-likes’, He is carrying you.
Praise the Lord; praise God our Savior!
For each day he carries us in his arms.
Psalm 68:19
For each day he carries us in his arms.
Psalm 68:19
I love that I will never be too old or too big for my God to carry me. I love that nothing is too big for Him to handle. I love that He’s strong enough and He is able to carry me. These are truths I’ve known since I was a young girl. And these are truths that I was sure of, and maybe you too, until we ‘feel like’ we’re falling. And those feel likes? They make us doubt the truth. And they cause us to focus on ourselves not wanting to ‘feel like’ this instead of holding on to the truth.
As I carried my daughter over the bumpy, uneven ground, that day, she may have ‘felt like’ she was falling, but I can tell you with assurance, she wasn’t going to fall. I knew she would not fall because I had her as tight as I could hold her. And as I spoke over her feelings and uuuuggghhh’s, I reassured her of that truth. And I also reminded her it was just as important for her to hold on to me. Because had she been holding on to me just as tight as I was holding on to her, she wouldn’t ‘feel like’ she was falling.
Can we pause today to cling to the truth that He’s got us? And can we pause to realize that it's just as important to hold on Him? He carries us. And He wants to carry the things that are heavy and weigh us down. He promises in Isaiah 43:2, that as we pass through the waters, He will be with us. He’s here, friend. Don’t let those ‘feel-likes’ shout louder than the truth. Don't let those 'feel likes' stop you from praising the One who holds you. He’s got you. Hold on to that.
As I carried my daughter over the bumpy, uneven ground, that day, she may have ‘felt like’ she was falling, but I can tell you with assurance, she wasn’t going to fall. I knew she would not fall because I had her as tight as I could hold her. And as I spoke over her feelings and uuuuggghhh’s, I reassured her of that truth. And I also reminded her it was just as important for her to hold on to me. Because had she been holding on to me just as tight as I was holding on to her, she wouldn’t ‘feel like’ she was falling.
Can we pause today to cling to the truth that He’s got us? And can we pause to realize that it's just as important to hold on Him? He carries us. And He wants to carry the things that are heavy and weigh us down. He promises in Isaiah 43:2, that as we pass through the waters, He will be with us. He’s here, friend. Don’t let those ‘feel-likes’ shout louder than the truth. Don't let those 'feel likes' stop you from praising the One who holds you. He’s got you. Hold on to that.