When Interruptions Threaten to Displace Your Security

Our senses can deceive us. 

College holds great opportunities for exploration. My freshman year I took advantage of several of them, including a spring break canoeing trip to Arkansas.

Unfortunately, adventures don’t always go as planned.

A Foolish Exchange

Following a long road trip from northern Iowa to “the Natural State,” we unloaded our van at a put-in point on the scenic Buffalo River. Expectations were high for a fabulous multi-day float. A steady rain did little to dampen our spirits.

The second day, with temps in the upper 50s to low 60s, I felt safe to use my rain gear to keep the food dry instead of my body. This proved to be a near-fatal lapse in judgment.

By early afternoon, our leader noticed the miserable state of many of us drenched canoers and called a break to warm up and eat. For my freezing body it was none to soon.

I remember little of what happened after we returned to the river, but the events of our sandbar break replays crisp and clear in my mind years later.

Our first task was to gather wood. The forest glowed lush and inviting. I wandered in that direction, beyond shivering. Soon I heard the crackling of a fire and heard my name being called. Our guide was calling me to safety. 

Only where he was calling me lay in the opposite direction of where, in my distorted perspective, I perceived safety to be. My hypothermic condition whispered a lie: “the trees offer more warmth than the fire.”

I felt myself being drawn farther into the woods, a deeper peace enveloping me with each step in the wrong and potentially deadly direction.

Skewed Perspective

Hypothermia had hijacked my senses in the Arkansas wilds. From my skewed perspective I tried to trade in certainty and security for what I thought looked like a better option.

Warmth and safety lay in the direction of the fire. What I felt and perceived led me the opposite way.

My distorted mindset sabotaged healthy and wise decision making those many years ago. A phenomenon all-to-common to my life journey in the years since that trip.

Instead of embracing all that God offers in life, I hold tight to my small sphere of what is understood. I shy from stepping into the unknown, preferring a well-lit path. I gravitate to the safe and warm.

I trade in the Lord’s promise of abundance for my idea of what’s best. You too? 

Our human condition whispers a lie: peace and contentment lie on a path we fully see and understand. Seek a smooth trail with no detours or hidden obstacles. 

Our human condition whispers a lie: peace and contentment lie on a path we fully see and understand. But truly, it's the Lord who holds an endless pool of peace, not our circumstances. Share on X

But the Lord confides the truth: “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). As our Creator, He knows our senses are vulnerable to deception. So as our loving Father, He offers the answer.

Certain Grace in an Uncertain World

He offers Himself.

He promises He is the path to security and satisfaction. A certain outcome in an uncertain world.

Rains drench. Doubt caresses.

We default to making our own contentment or believing there is none to be found.

Yet the Lord holds out an endless pool of peace. His mysterious grace.

He gives it freely and lavishly, right in the middle of all those messy interruptions! Those things that trip up our dance. The ones that lead us into the wilderness.

His grace brings the security we try to orchestrate. He does the making; we do the receiving.

God's grace brings the security we try to orchestrate. He does the making; we do the receiving. And when we welcome His offering, we find ourselves right where we need to be; wrapped in the warmth of His eternal embrace. Share on X

And when we welcome His offering, we find ourselves right where we need to be; wrapped in the warmth of His eternal embrace.

If we nudge our hearts to trust in something our senses struggle to perceive….

If we open our hearts to the promises found and fulfilled in Christ….

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

I’m thrilled to link up with Suzie Eller for #livefreeThursday and this week’s prompt, “I give you my heart” as well as Bonnie Gray from Faith Barista. I love these special linkups. They provide an abundance of great inspiration and encouragement all in one place. Click on the image below to check them out.