Last night I went to our church’s volleyball night for the first time ever. It’s a pretty fun evening that has happened for years, where folks just come together and play volleyball. We play in our gym there at the church and as we played I began to get slightly annoyed with the ceiling. The ceiling seemed to play a hand in a pretty high percentage of the shots. There are lights and various kinds of steel bars and vents sticking out up there, so when it does hit the ceiling it’s ruled the other team’s point.
On one of the shots, a gal on my team sent the ball soaring towards the roof. I’d given up hope of any possible point for our team, when suddenly the ball soared through various obstacles and over a pipe without touching anything. The ball landed in play, and we got the point.
It got me thinking about this faith thing. How many times do we try and get through life on our own, with our own agendas? It can be quite hard at times. There are different types of real obstacles whether they be physical or spiritual that can get in our way. We tend to not rely fully on God until we really need him. There are a couple of tough circumstances in my life that I have been dealing with lately. At first, I thought I could do it by myself. When I thought this, the reality of their insurmountableness hit me. I alone can’t handle he obstacles. The moment I surrendered the issues to God, I received a deep sense of peace in my life. I even had affirmations from others that God would give me the strength to get through trials (and they didn’t even know I was going through anything).
Trying to get through life on my own strength is like hitting a ball up at the ceiling in the gym at church. I will always lose the point, if you will. But with God’s help, life can be like the shot of the girl from church. God can take our seemingly impossibilities and make a way through those to bring out the possible. I pray that I can rely on God in the good and bad, so that he can take my life and weave it through the tough times.
