Ready, Set, Go!

Yesterday, Gracie conquered her swimming lessons. This whole week, she had mastered putting her face in the water, jumping in, going deep, and popping back up, swimming to the side of the pool and getting over her fear of "swallowing water". Every day after each lesson, I would tell her how brave she had been, what a wonderful job she was doing and how she was looking like a duck in the water (an analogy she loves). The final trick of the day was going down the water slide. Because of our encouragement, her confidence grew over the week and she convinced herself she could do the slide...and she did.

In the Bible, David had to pump himself up, too. Think about it..he was the youngest of a brood of strong brothers and he was a shepherd, yet he was picked to fight Goliath. In I Samuel 17: 34, David reminds himself of what he had achieved so far. "When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. This Philistine (Goliath) will be like one of them." No one was encouraging David, so he had to do it himself. Sometimes, we have to remind ourself of how far we've come and what God has helped us conquer in the past. This gives us more faith for the next trial that comes our way. And the Bible has alot to say about confidence in the form of faith. Hebrews 10:35 says. "Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."

Gracie came down the slide faster than a speeding bullet. She went under water and popped up, smiling the whole time. And with the confidence she has now, she's ready to take on a taller and much bigger water slide, although her mother doesn't have the stomach to watch her!