I had a dream that I was a lifeguard.
Interesting, eh? While I enjoying swimming and am very comfortable in the water, I’d rather lay in a chair and read a good book poolside. I never was… nor ever wanted to be a lifeguard. Too much pressure.
Well, in this dream… there were hundreds of people in the pool and they were all drowning. Once I realized the severity of the situation, I jumped into the pool to do my job. As I swam frantically to save the first person… a tall, bright light appeared and a hand reached out towards me.
Oddly, I knew exactly what that hand expected. And so I delivered the drowning swimmer into it.
As I swam quickly to the next drowning person, the hand appeared again and so I handed the swimmer over to it. With every person I went to help, the same thing happened. I remember starting to giggle each time the “hand-off” happened, because it seemed silly to think that I could be the one to save when this hand was reaching out to (and saving) everyone effortlessly.
I woke up laughing.
Sometimes God speaks and reveals things to me in my dreams. It was obvious He wanted to bring something to my attention. You see, I had been feeling overwhelmed by my desire to help so many people go further and deeper in their Christian walk. In a way, I was trying to be their lifeguard.
Through this dream, I believe God was showing me that although my desire to help others was a good one, I couldn’t do it alone. He needed to be the biggest part of the equation.
Ephesians 2:8 tells us that it is ONLY by faith we are saved and not through anything we do (or anything anyone else does for us). It appeared that I had been putting a whole lot of pressure on myself to be something I couldn’t be… a lifeguard.
A little heavenly reminder delivered to me in the comfort of my own bed. God is so good to me. 🙂
Look… We can speak the Truth. We can write the Truth. But the bottom line is that … we… can’t… save… anyone. Jesus already did.
His work on the cross saved us all. However, we have to grab hold of His extended hand and allow Him to be our Lifeguard. Only He can truly save us eternally. The work has already been done.
And that’s a good thing because I’m simply not able to be a lifeguard. Neither, my friend, are you.
Whew…
This is good to hear! After the Deeper Still conference, and being reminded of how important it is to be in the word of God and KNOW it, I wanted to run home to my hubby and start nagging him to get in the Word! I wanted to start preaching to my brother about how God can help when life is shattered, and I wanted to start shoving scripture down the throats of my children so they wouldn’t get lost! “Teaching them how to swim” you might say. This is me trying to be a lifeguard. Instead, maybe I could just be a swim buddy! Swimming along side by side, encouraging them to go deeper, challenging them to swim further, with me by their side, so that when something happens to either one of us and we need a little saving, the other is there to call on the lifeguard! This is why we our parents taught us to swim in twos. A great metaphor Carey!! Now, if God would give me some cool dreams like that, that would be great! I only seem to get the scary nasty ones b/c I ate too much before bed…. 🙂
Wow. Carey. Wow. That was huge! For years in my youth I wanted to be a swim teacher. I made my sister pretend she couldn’t swim so I could begin to learn to teach. I’d make her float, hold her breath for 30 seconds (sometimes longer, just to bug her!). Every year of school my mom kept this little memory book and she would ask each year: What do you want to be when you grow up? Always a swim teacher! Aha moment tonight when I read this…God may want me in the water…but He’s the one doing the teaching, not me! I have to be in partnership with Him to accomplish anything! Glory be to God! Thanks Carey…you never cease to amaze me!