Learning to Trust in the 'Drops'

(I apologize for the lateness of this post, lately I’ve been having a hard time keeping my head straight. :-P Thank you for your patience ^_^)

In case you haven’t noticed yet, I’m a rather big fan of Disneyland. Some of my favorite family memories and memories with my husband were made there and there is just something magical about those few square miles. When I was quite little (3 & 4 years old) we went to Disneyland, my memories are quite vague but I know that I went on Pirates of the Caribbean even though I don’t have a specific memory of the ride from that time. How you ask? Because the next time I went I was about 11, and I was terrified of the first drop underground. I had myself so completely psyched-out that I’m pretty sure my little 11 year-old blood pressure was up and I *know* my heart was beating faster as we approached the archway. As we waited to enter that dark archway I hated that moment of just sitting and waiting there, the last boat’s screams echoing in my ears. Then I took a deep breath, held it and gripped the bar in front of me as tightly as I could, I knew there was no chickening out now. As we floated around the bend after the first 1 story drop and the second half story drop I was shocked… I couldn’t believe it… that wasn’t *half* as big a drop as I remembered. In fact, I rather enjoyed it! The rest of the ride I could not get over how much different the ride was from my little, foggy 3 year-old’s memory. I had almost talked myself out of doing the whole thing altogether, which would have kept me from experiencing what quickly became one of my favorite rides in the whole park.

Lately I’ve been reminded of this experience due to unexpected, but not unfamiliar events in my life. And I am very quick to point at God and say “I know this, I’ve been here before and I don’t want to do this! How could you lead me here again?! Why doesn’t it ever get any easier?” As we keeping moving forward I’m finding that this ‘drop’ isn’t nearly so awful as I made it out to be; situations are rarely exactly the same as they were in the past. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how scary or how hard a situation is; if it is the path that my Redeemer has laid for me, I must learn to trust that it is the best path possible. If I knew every challenge that God has for me over the years… I’m pretty sure I would be a stubborn mule and refuse to move. How many of us would chose to willingly walk a path of pain and suffering, if given the choice? Our natural human nature seeks to avoid pain, to avoid loss. This is where I have to remind myself that when it all comes down to it, He is the Creator, I am merely the creation. I trust in His loving-kindness.

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done?’ declares the Lord. ‘Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand…’

~ Jeremiah 18: 1-6