Discouraged, depressed, hurting, or just plain lonely? Do you feel like a crocodile is nibbling on your toes? I recently read a stanza of a poem, written by Annie Johnson Flint, which might be helpful.
Annie experienced a life of tribulation, pain, and poverty. Her mother died in childbirth when Annie was three, leaving her with a baby sister and a father who was unable to raise his children. He turned them over to a widow who had her own children to raise, and where Annie was treated poorly. A brief time later, however, a kindly couple adopted the two girls into a Christian home.
By the time Annie was a young adult, her biological father and adoptive mother and father had died. She developed crippling arthritis, leaving her bedridden or in a wheelchair. The rest of her life she lived in pain and poverty, dying September 8, 1932,
exactly three years prior to the birth of this author.
Perhaps, dear reader, you say, “Wow! How terrible!” My mind imagined a life of loneliness, discouragement, isolation, and a constant “pity party” attitude. But, oh! no! Think again.
Apparently, according to simple research of her life, her heart was full of joy and light. Her early Christian home must have planted some incredible seeds of love, appreciation, and happiness for the Lord.
Annie, with gnarled hands, scribbled out an array of poems and songs for Christians throughout the world. I found one stanza that grabbed my heart. The poem was entitled, “The Red Sea Place”.
“Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life, where, in spite of all you can do, there is no way out, there is no way back, there is no other way but through? Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene till the night of your fear is gone; He will send the wind, He will heap the floods, when He says to your soul, ‘Go on.‘”
What a wonderful way to illustrate tribulation and trials. As the Children of Israel rushed out of Egypt toward the Promise Land, God provided a scary, escape route – right through the mighty Red Sea. Trust, courage, and faith, must have been required by
terrified parents, as they began the walk through a wall of water. Certainly, Moses and his leadership skills assisted in this watery, adventure trip.
Bottom line, all participants needed faith and trust in the Almighty God. He took care of them, not just that evening, but for forty years of wandering in the wilderness.
Paul, in II Corinthians 4:8-10, described his own testimony of the wonderful treasure we have in God. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
Perhaps you are facing the Red Sea in your life.
Be of good courage, the Lord will guide you safely through the troubled waters.
Kathryn Ransom 