Stuck........

Peering out the picture window overlooking the glowing front yard by a warm ray of sunshine I am startled by tiny whimpers. As the whimpers grew louder and louder I soon realized it was coming from my 7 year old daughter Macie who had gotten stuck in a tree. We were at my in-laws overnight and they have huge trees everywhere and so Macie felt brave that evening and decided to climb one in the front yard. With her daddy standing nearby cheering her on she was grinning ear to ear, she got caught up in the moment and kept climbing only realizing after she was 1/3 the way up she still had to climb back down. 

As she looked at the ground below her precious little body became frozen in fear. Panic set in and she became overwhelmed at her circumstances surrounding her. As her cries became more hysterical her daddy stood at the bottom of the tree and tried patiently talking her through it but the fear was too great. Even though she trusts her daddy more than anything she was too distracted by the chaos around her to hear his voice even if it was the very thing that would lead her to safety. As I stood by watching I felt helpless, I wanted to scoop her up in my arms and carry her to shelter but no matter what I did I couldn’t help her down.

In life we have all come to a place where we have found ourselves out of reach. Panic stricken and desperate to be rescued, desperate to be carried to safety but regardless of how much we try we can’t figure out a plan on how to. “Never will I leave you never will I forsake you” are the whispers from our Heavenly Father standing below us as we dangle high above safety in the swirling chaos of our circumstances. Whether it be an addiction, financial ruin, a failing marriage, unhappy career, unexpected death, abuse, past trauma or heath crisis we have all be held captive to painful circumstances. Maybe it was even like my little Macie and we get so caught up in the moment that we don't realize how much further and further our steps are taking us towards danger and away from our Heavenly Fathers voice. 

The beauty of the story with Macie is that after a few minutes when her daddy realized his voice alone wasn’t going to help guide her to safety he and her grandpa got a ladder out of the garage and climbed up to her, stretched out their hand and held tight to her as they walked her calmly to safety. 

 Even when we feel like our circumstances are too big and there is no way out, even when our heavenly fathers voice seems so far away and fear has overtaken us and even when we feel unworthy He is still there. It is in those moments of desperation that He will reach up high above in the midst of our mess and pain, calm the fear within our minds, whisper hope to our hearts and grab ahold of our hand and walk us to safety. “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” Psalm 40:1-2