I have started swimming again. Swimming is a loose term, because my swimming consists of walking upright in 4 feet water with a water safety belt. This therapy is not an easy task for me right now. I am having to start all over like I have never swam before in my life.
In Fort Worth, I grew up swimming, water skiing, fishing, and enjoying the fun water sports. I thought it would just come right back once I hit the water, kind of like riding a bicycle. Well, you have to have muscles to swim, and my muscle mass has been severely damaged during these last few years of illness.
When my family lived in Phoenix everybody had a swimming pool, so our pool came with the house and we didn’t complain. I remember time after time jumping in and playing with my kids in the pool. We would laugh, play games, and have many silly moments splashing and swallowing water. There is nothing like playing in the swimming pool to make you feel like a kid again. Many fun times and memories were had in that water, and nothing was better in the HOT summers in Phoenix than cooling down in the swimming pool.
If I ponder the things in the past, the things I can no longer do, I can become very sad. I am working hard to change my inabilities; hopefully I can gradually change that list of negatives to positives soon. In the meantime, I need to look to the present and to the future using the strength that God offers to each one of us.
Isaiah 43:18-19
18 “Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
19 “Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert.”
Scripture reminds us to not focus on the past, but to look to the present and to the future. HE offers us “rivers in the desert.” Too many times we stay stuck on things that have happened in the past. Sometimes horrible experiences happen and we let those past experiences decide our future—not because God intended it to, but because we let it overcome us. God has not left our side.
My dad called and told us of a lesson he will be teaching on the characters Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were thrown in a fiery furnace for believing in God, but God did not abandon them. HE stood in the furnace with them and protected them from harm.
Some of us find ourselves in a fiery furnace of sorts, but again, those of us that believe in the Almighty God are certainly not alone. The path we have is not necessarily easy, but we don’t have to walk it alone.
I was again reminded of a hymn. My dad sang over my phone a hymn that he would lead his class to sing …
In Shady Green Pastures
In shady, green pastures, so rich and so sweet,
God leads His dear children along;
Where the water’s cool flow bathes the weary one’s feet,
God leads His dear children along.
Refrain
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song,
In the night season and all the day long.
Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright,
God leads His dear children along;
Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night,
God leads His dear children along.
Refrain
Though sorrows befall us and evils oppose,
God leads His dear children along;
Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes,
God leads His dear children along.
Refrain
Away from the mire, and away from the clay,
God leads His dear children along;
Away up in glory, eternity’s day,
God leads His dear children along.
Refrain