Getting Unstuck
I should have called the Guinness Book of World Records.
I had made the longest human snow angel. It wasn’t intentional. I thought I was being efficient looping my arm through the dog leash and carrying the laundry basket inside in one trip. Where I went wrong is that my dog was a 140-pound bull mastiff, and geese often passed through our backyard. One minute I was walking toward the house, the next my clean laundry was flying in the air, and I was being dragged through the snow for at least 15 yards. Fortunately, I didn’t break my arm, but I sported some ugly bruises.
Pastor Leonardo Sales of Brazil spoke about a time he received an underwater camera and headed to the beach to take pictures. He spotted a turtle crawling back to the ocean and decided to wait and take its picture underwater. However, on the turtle’s way, it got stuck in a hole and couldn’t get out. Exhausted and tired, the sea turtle struggled to pull itself out. While the pastor waited for the turtle to become unstuck, he thought, what a dumb turtle, she can’t figure this out, she is so slow and clumsy. After an hour or so, he gave up on the turtle and packed his camera. But before he left, the turtle, thanks to the help of some benevolent beachgoers, made its escape and reached the tide. Pastor Sales barely had enough time to retrieve his camera and take her picture before she swam away into the deep. The pastor realized that the turtle wasn’t dumb. It wasn’t slow. It wasn’t ugly. It had just been stuck in the wrong place. It had been impeded by the sand, but once in the water, it was beautiful, graceful, and surprisingly quick.
Sometimes we too get stuck. We loop our arms into the wrong idea, plan, or person and are dragged through yards of consequences. Or we find ourselves in a pit carrying too much weight to pull ourselves out no matter how hard we struggle. It feels helpless, exasperating, and hopeless, but that is a lie.
Remember who you are.
As Pastor Sales discovered, once unstuck, once set free, the sea turtle glided through the water in all its glory. We must remember who God says we are. We are His glorious and beautiful creations. We are His children, and He loves us fervently and passionately. Enough to pay the hefty price of His son to set us free. There is no pit deep enough to keep us from his love. Not even the darkest past nor the gloomiest present can keep us trapped and separated from our God. He will meet us where we are and light our way. He will be our shield and our strength.
Remember, we are not victims. We are conquerors.
Romans 8:37-39 says: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Remember, you are loved and you are valued.
“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” – 1 Peter 2:9.
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