Do you remember when you first learned to ride a bike? I do! I remember being very excited…I wanted so badly to be a “big girl” and ride my bike without training wheels. It was kind of a big deal! I even remember practicing at my Nanny’s [our name for our Grandma] house on a bike that was way too big for me…trying to master going downhill. Only, the hill was all grass…and the attempt ended in tears…lots of them!
We are in the process of teaching my 5 year old to ride. She has her own cutie Barbie bike, and she’s ready. Or at least she thinks she is…until the moment we are ready to let go. [Picture me, bent over and exhausted from running back & forth keeping her up for several driveway laps!]. When we start to let go…she starts to struggle. The front wheel starts going quickly from left to right and back and forth…until the wobbling turns into a crying 5 year old on a blacktop driveway. Sweet girl…
Little does she know that what she’s struggling with now, it can set her up for SO MUCH GOOD in the future.
In real life, we’re going to fall off of that bike. We may skin our knees or hit our head…things that we wish would’ve never happened. But the point is, we still get up. We dry our tears, bandage our wounds and we try again.
Really, she’s learning to be brave.
She’s learning that even though things happen that make us cry and things hurt us so deep that we’re not sure we ever want to try again…we can be brave. Sometimes it takes another person standing beside you whispering in your ear “Abby, you’re brave. With God, you’ve got this! He makes you strong. You can get back up and try again… even though you are scared.” High five!
And sometimes all it takes is the whisper of your Savior, “My daughter, you are brave. I see what’s happened, and you’re right. It’s not fair. But I’m still here. I will walk with you through this. I will catch every tear, and give you My strength to walk. To get up. To be brave. To get back on that bike and ride. Because you see, I don’t only want you to ride. I want you to ENJOY the ride. To feel the wind through your hair, to know freedom from those things that have hurt you and be an overcomer. Simply because, that’s who you are, in Me.”
God has you in the palm of His hand. Your part…is to trust and obey. He’ll do the rest.
Isaiah 43:1-4 [I underlined some of the parts that speak the most to me…]
“But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up, the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I gave Egypt as a ransom for your freedom; I gave Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours, because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.”