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Pray to God, but Row Toward Shore
Living on a small lake, my husband and I enjoy going out for a leisurely ride on our paddleboat. One day we launched out together, talking and soaking in the beauty around us. When it was time to turn around for the second half of our ride towards home, we discovered that it was quite breezy and were having to peddle twice as hard to make any headway!
Now we could have prayed and asked God to get us home, but the reality was that we were caught off guard and needed to work twice as hard to get ourselves back. Do I believe that God helped us that day? Yes I do, but it wasn’t by magically transporting us to our home dock! We paddled feverishly until we realized we needed an alternative plan. So we docked at the nearest home, tied up our boat, let the family know it was ours and went back on a calm day to paddle it 
home.
The circumstances of life are going to catch us off guard at times. One moment everything seems smooth and right and with one small turn we discover we are struggling to maintain our normalcy. Praying is important and highly recommended, but God also expects us to keep rowing towards the shore. He gives us a sound mind to take action when the winds of life change. He also teaches us through each experience so we are better equipped to navigate in the future.
A few years back the change in our economy affected our church income quite dramatically where we are pastors. Within several months we had no more cushion and not enough to meet the budget. We prayed and asked God to meet our needs, but we also rowed toward shore! We reviewed the budget and cut out every bit of spending that was not essential. We did without some things and trusted God to help everyone understand. When I look back, it was frightening at first. But God gave us wisdom and we discovered some alternatives to supply our needs.
I love how practical God gets with us too! As the children’s pastor, I now know that I don’t need to spend any money on curriculum. That was quite a discovery for me! There is an amazing church that offers free resources and they are excellent and media based. You can check them out for your church at www.Open.lifechurch.tv. Donations from a closing business years back were some of the exact office and art supplies we needed now! One of our leaders started a food pantry at our church that not only feeds hundreds of families each month but also provides snacks and food that we need for church events. These are all blessings that were discovered through our financial strain!
Most importantly, we learned to rest and be at peace, knowing that God IS faithful.
He does not want us to trust in our income. He does expect us to work and be responsible, and when the winds of life turn on us, our trust should be in Him. I no longer worry about the tithe and offering amount each week because I know that if we have a deficit, He will see us through. God will turn your greatest difficulty into something of value. He wants to teach you to keep rowing, keep moving and keep trusting!
Copyright © 2008-2015 Dawn Sheridan Kollar
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