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Swimming Lessons

Good Morning!

I'm going to be doing something different for a while...until I'm not.

I have been going to the pool for 2 years now.  I was there because I needed the exercise and what I had been doing was hard on the joints.  My therapist and doctors kept telling me to swim and I have an indoor pool available at no extra cost, so I went.  I only walked my laps in the beginning because I didn't really know how to swim.  I previously swam for play and never for long periods of time without interruption.

I wanted to learn though, so I began to go online and learn technique and came up with a practice routine that worked.  I would walk 3/4 of the lap and swim the other 1/4.  As I got better, I would swim 1/2 and 1/2.  You get the picture.  Soon I was swimming my entire time, but constantly struggling with breath control.

The idea for this blog series began when I learned something that not only drastically changed my time in the pool, but started a journey of lessons that was totally unexpected.  I began to see spiritual truths while swimming!  Truths that I needed to apply while out of the pool in order to live a life of more complete trust.  Trust in the LORD.  Trust that brings rest even in the work of living.

So, this is the first lesson I got.  I told a friend who is a swimmer that I was struggling with breath control. 

She asked, "Do you use goggles"? 

I sort of laughed and said, "No." 

She said, "If you use goggles you'll be able to see and that will help with your breath control." 

She insisted this would make a huge difference and even pressed a pair of her goggles into my hands for me to use the next time I was at the pool.  To say I was skeptical is the understatement of the century.  I was not a believer!  But, I took them and put them on the next time I went...I totally felt like an imposter wearing goggles when I was not really a swimmer.

Anyway, I wore them and she was right!  I'm not talking a little bit better breath control.  I'm talking unbelievable breath control.  I still do not understand how seeing where I am in the water helps me breathe, but it does.  It does, it does, it does!!!

Now when I'm swimming, I see the black tile line that keeps me going in the right direction and perfectly within my swim lane.  I don't have to see the end of the pool to know it's there.  I just need to know where I am and keep stroking.

So, my first swim lesson goes along with Psalm 119:105.  Your Word is a lamp for my foot and light on my path.  Just as seeing the black line in the pool keeps me going in the right direction, reading the Word of God helps me see where I am and helps keep me moving in the right direction.

I know not all of you swim, but I would challenge you to stay in God's Word and allow Him to illuminate your path.  It definitely allows you to breathe easier and enjoy the adventure of living!

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