Deep Dive by Mary Folkerts

 

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:9,10 (NIV).

I watched my 82-year-old friend dive into the summer lake while I sat in the boat with my fear. 

As a child, it was ingrained in me to fear deep water, and I never had swimming lessons until I was in high school, and then only for a short while. This, and not having much access to swimming pools, created in me a fear of water if it was too deep to stand in. 

So what a strange dilemma when you become a swim coach who can’t swim. That’s right. I help coach Special Olympics swimmers on my daughter's swim team, but I cannot swim. All  I can do is stand on the side of the pool, relaying instructions from the head coach, cheer the athletes on, and see if someone is in distress, but I cannot jump in to save them. I watch with a sense of longing as the swimmers effortlessly cut through the water, their limbs and minds trained to know how to keep their bodies afloat in deep water. They don’t fear the depths as long as they trust what they have learned. 

What a strange dilemma when you become a

swim coach who can’t swim!

 Isn’t it true that we often spend too much time splashing around in the wading pool of Christianity because we’ve never really learned how to swim? Oh, we’ve been saved by faith in Jesus, but we’ve never had the desire to swim in the deep end. Fear holds us back because when our feet can’t touch bottom, we lose our sense of control. And we don’t like to lose control. We want to “do Christianity” on our own terms. We read part of our key verse, “… I have come that they may have life…” and that’s where we stop. 

“...and have it to the full” is the deep dive. This full or abundant life is not necessarily characterized by a life of ease. One of the biggest things that keep us from experiencing this life Jesus desires to give us is our inherent need for control. We like to keep our feet firmly planted in our own plans and desires. We hold on tight and miss out on the blessing of trusting God’s love for us. We have been taught that Jesus is faithful and trustworthy, but do we believe it? Have we never learned to truly trust because we refuse to go where the water is deep? 

How can we encourage readers to dive deep into an abundant relationship with God when we fail to do so ourselves? Shallow faith is not a tried faith. It’s working through the difficult emotions, the ugly sins, admitting to failure, discouragement and depression. It’s being authentic. It’s removing the mask of perfection, revealing the depths of God’s love and working power within our own desperate hearts.

Shallow faith is not a tried faith.

And sometimes, by God's grace, He gently nudges us deeper than we wanted to go, to where we have no choice but to cling to Him.  It’s here that we become aware that living in His abundance means complete trust in His goodness, which brings abundant peace no matter how deep the water.

Mary Folkerts is mom to four kids and wife to a farmer, living on the southern prairies of Alberta, where the skies are large and the sunsets stunning. She is a Proverbs 31 ministries COMPEL Writers Training member and is involved in church ministries and music. Mary’s personal blog aims to encourage and inspire women and advocate for those with Down Syndrome, as their youngest child introduced them to this extraordinary new world. For more inspiration, check out Joy in the small things https://maryfolkerts.com/