My Anchor

Welcome to my very first blog! 

Disclaimer here, when I write, I write pretty much how I think and sometimes my thoughts are jumping back and forth binging off of the walls! So, stick with me and hold on! 

First, I hope you are laughing at the ridiculous picture that I posted! Yes, that is me floating with a life preserver and noodle in the beautiful waters off the coast of Anguilla. And, YES, that is a class of Rose’ as I am attached to a rope that keeps me within a somewhat safe distance to a beautiful sailboat that my family and I were fortunate enough to spend the day on! This was a couple of years ago but during the Christmas break, of this year, my girls and guys in my family had a serious discussion about this adventure and future adventures! When I was running the other day, God used this very conversation to pierce my heart to how He uses even our family vacations to remind me of the journey my family continues day after day! 

So, a little background, I love to swim and was actually a life guard back in the day. I also have desired for my family to love water adventures like snorkeling in Hawaii and the Caribbean! That brings me to our conversation this Christmas break. We are planning a wonderful trip for our Emma’s college graduation which is in 2021 and I am already coming up with new adventures! Anyway, I was discussing our next snorkeling trip when, Haden, my oldest daughter, said, “mom, we have to talk and you are going to have to accept what I am about to say.” I was like, ugh oh!!! When she calls me out, it can get interesting in most every way!! She goes on to tell me that she loves our trips but that she and Beau hate snorkeling! Then my husband chimed in! They said it was scary in the middle of the ocean with sharks and eels swimming around! I tried to bargain and plead with her and get her to understand that it is exciting and how blessed we are to be able to do these things! We get to see beautiful sea life and the sea turtles are huge and beautiful to watch! They were not having it and their actual true fear overrides any desire to get out of the boat and into those waters again! Now, they definitely want to be out on the beautiful catamaran having wine and delicious food but they absolutely do not want to swim or snorkel out in the deep, beautiful, crystal clear water! The picture above is a time in which we snorkeled off the coast of Anguilla and everyone had gotten back on the boat and I was literally relaxed basking in the warm sunshine and beautiful water! We were laughing and enjoying family time but I was the only one in the water! They kept joking that I was a perfect target with my bigger end bobbing around in the deep waters and that some shark could get me within seconds! It never occurred to me to be afraid! Why should I be? The beautiful boat we were on got five star reviews for safety and experience. It was anchored by a huge and I mean huge iron anchor that I watched them lower! I was attached to the boat with a long rope that the captain and co-captain could pull me in quickly! I also had a life preserver, a noodle keeping me afloat, and I’m a good swimmer! But see, as I was running the other day and frankly a little put off that my family doesn’t want to snorkel with me, I realized I was only thinking of how the adventures were affecting me. I have a lot of life experiences that my girls don't have yet and I also was trained at 17 years old to not fear the water and know how to save someone or myself if need be! I hope my girls and son-in-love will read this and think about how life experiences compare to this very adventure! 

Let’s start with the anchored boat! Where is your life anchored? Is it in safe waters where you don’t get to experience life and the beauty that God has given us or have you anchored your boat in treacherous and dangerous waters because you are lost or you like the thrill? The point is if you have a boat and an anchor, you have a choice as to the waters you want to go! With technology on these boats, there are warning signals, weather channels and even the coast guard is available but sometimes we choose a little adventure and we end up a little further than we planned or a storm comes out of nowhere or we have chosen an adventure that we did not prepare or study for! Remember, you have an anchor and you can drop it and call for help! I was floating in the ocean but I was connected to a rope that was connected to a boat which was anchored. I floated all around that boat and sometimes the waves brought me closer to the boat and sometimes pushed me further out but I could only go so far. I also had a life preserver and a noodle if I got exhausted and needed to rest. It’s a beautiful picture of how JESUS is the anchor of my soul! Hebrews 6:19 says, ‘We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” If Jesus is my anchor, no matter where I take my life, even when I make mistakes or swim into areas I shouldn’t be, my anchor will not let me go! I can be tossed about by the waves! I can struggle, grieve, be angry, and make bad choices but Jesus is not going to cut the rope! I will have to suffer the human consequences of my choices but when I am tired of fighting, all I have to do is get to my anchor and use the rope to get back in the boat! GET back in the boat people when you are tired!! Let the anchor hold you firm until you can get help, rest and find direction again! For goodness sake, don’t stay in the treacherous waters or keep struggling when you know that you are barely keeping your head above the water! Get in the boat! But, also, hold unswervingly to the promise that Jesus will never leave you or forsake you! He just wants you to reach out for the life preserver! Reach out and up! 

One of the main fears for my girls and Beau are the creatures that lurk below the surface of the ocean! They described in great detail what a shark could have done to me while I was floating around and while we were snorkeling. They also hammered me with a list of other terrible creatures like eels and jellyfish! Oh, and let’s not forget the sea snakes! I wasn’t afraid at all partially because of my love for the water since I was a little girl and the water was crystal clear even in the deepest part of where we were! But, I realized after our animated conversation at Christmas that I had lots of life experience with wonderful snorkeling trips and not once had a run in with sharks, eels or well, I would say jellyfish but I have had my share of stings! Jellyfish are mean and can cause some serious damage and even death but for the most part, they just cause a lot of pain! The other life experience that I have which changes my view of those creatures below is the death of my son, Cole! You see through that loss and grief, those sea creatures have nothing that can hurt me more than the loss and missing my son so I don’t fear things like I used too! 

During my run, it occurred to me how unfair it was to expect that my girls and Beau would experience our adventures the same and that they would see things like I do as a momma! Of course, they wouldn’t or couldn’t! My children will experience life like that water adventure! They have sharks, eels and jellyfish in their everyday life! What are your sharks and jellyfish in this world? We all have them. This world is full of them and they will eat us up in a hot second with school, jobs, loss, friends who let them down, money, social media and most of all, the continuous movement of moral standards! Sadly, my girls have experienced these in the worst possible way! They have to have that anchor for their lives! We all do so that when the storms and struggles come, we can grab hold of that anchor and be reeled back into the boat! It takes us being prepared, knowing Jesus is the anchor for our souls, and reaching out for His mighty right hand to get back in the boat! 

Next time it may just be Emma and myself enjoying this beautiful wonder of God, but it’s okay. My other loves have adventures that they treasure and where they see God’s majesty, but one thing is true for us is that our anchor that keeps us from being destroyed is Jesus! He has not only held our heads above incredible stormy waves, but He has us sailing the seas of this life with a mighty anchor ready at any moment! Please, if you know Jesus as the anchor of your soul, be assured you can never drift too far that He won’t reel you back in if you reach out and up and He will never cut the rope. It is wonderful to experience God’s beauty and He wants us to experience life in abundance. 

Until next time, I stand in a sea of grace, Rebecca