Swimming Lessons - How To Stop Treading Water During The Storms Of Life

I have always enjoyed being at (and in!) a lake, a swimming pool, a river, or the ocean because it has such a soothing and invigorating effect on me. As a child, swimming became second nature.

One of the techniques used to teach children to swim first emerged during my youth. The premise was that the best way to teach a child to swim was to start them as toddlers. The 'experts' believed that a child should be thrown into the water, which would cause a natural response in them to hold their breath and start a basic "dog paddle" struggle to the surface.

This was a scary way to teach someone to swim! My sister was taught this way. The instructors requested that my parents not be present when they did this because of their fear! It was not easy for Mom to stay calm as she watched her precious baby thrown into the water and fight for her life, clawing at the water to get back to the surface! Not everyone agreed with this method, but it is still used today.

Years later, a group of researchers discovered that it was less traumatic and much easier to start with a little bit older child. Most pool accidents happen to children who aren't dressed to go swimming. These researchers taught that the instructor should go into the water with a fully clothed toddler or even older child and gently guide them to roll over on their back and stay still, simply floating on the surface after a short dog paddle to rise to the surface. Their premise was that it is far safer for the child to learn to relax in the water by floating on their back than it was to make them waste lots of energy by struggling to stay above the surface. This technique caught on and is used quite frequently today.

While swimming in the ocean, there is always the potential risk of getting caught in a riptide. Riptides are a strong and narrow surface current that results from the return of waves and wind-driven water that flows outward from the shore, often following a storm. They can knock a person off their feet without warning and take all of one's strength trying to swim against them.

By using the same technique as taught to children swimming in a pool, the best way to get out of a riptide is not to fight against it but relax and let the flow take the person until it stops moving, which is often just a short distance from where they first entered the water.

When I first learned of this new way of teaching kids to swim, I was going through a time of significant stress and hardship, resulting in the loss of my home and business. The storms of life have a habit of smashing all of one's hopes and dreams on the rocks of reality. I remember that on the day I first saw this swimming technique taught and watched its amazing results, I heard God say that this was what He was trying to teach me about trusting Him more when storms come.

I also heard Him say to me that I will get nowhere by "treading water" and fighting against the riptides of life, trying to keep from drowning in all my problems. Instead of struggling to keep me above it all, God wanted me to roll over on my back, face away from my problems, stop struggling to stay on the surface and learn to "float" in His presence—looking upward to Him for my help as I move with the flow. He showed me that He would keep me "in perfect peace" as I "learned to trust Him" (Isa 26:3).

Having faith in God is totally and completely placing one's trust in Him. That means giving up worrying about the future - or how something might turn out - or what might happen - and stopping the struggle for understanding, which is like trying to stay on the surface during the storms of life while fighting a losing battle against rising riptides and wind-tossed waves (See Matt 6:25).

Webster defines trust as: "To place confidence in; to rely on the strength, character, ability, or truth of someone or something. To commit to place one's care or keeping."

Proverbs says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." (3:5-6)

The word "understanding" in Hebrew includes the thought of a person's intellect, knowledge, ability, and experience. To truly and fully trust God, they must not rely on anything or anyone but Him.

Faith and trust are synonymous. Faith is also a synonym of hope, and hope is a synonym of love. When someone says that they love God, they are actually saying that they trust Him because they have faith and hope in Him.