"The Lord's mercy often rides to the door of our heart upon the black horse of affliction."   Charles Hadden Spurgeon

 

I was pondering again an experience Brian and I had last summer or was it two summers ago already?  We rented a small sailboat like the one in the picture for two dollars an hour.  It sounded like a fun adventure for date night.  Neither of us had sailed in years, but being pretty mechanical Brian was able to get the rigging all up and the lines in the right places.  We took our places and headed across Lake Bemidji. We adjusted our weight as he pulled the sail tighter and adjusted the rudder to catch the most breeeze.  The wind filled the sail and tilted the boat.  It was July so the water was warm and it was a pleasant day with a good breeze.  It was quiet but exhilarating as we cut a wake across the lake.  We managed well until we got all the way across the lake and decided to turn around and head back across. There was some discussion about which way to turn the rudder in order to come about properly.  I was nervous as Brian manned the rudder and the sail started to cross over the boat. He seemed awkward and it didn't seem to be going smoothly.  The boom was too low.  As we came about, the sail caught me and knocked me into the water, the boat tipped up and Brian followed me in.  To our dismay, the boat tipped all the way over with the sail pointing straight down in the water.  At first I wondered what we would do, but then we started to laugh and Brian took hold of the wooden blade that sticks out the bottom and keeps the boat from slipping sideways across the lake.  He put his feet against the side of the boat and pulled back with all his weight and slowly the sailboat turned back over.  We climbed on and sailed back and forth across the lake a few more times.  Even after we had capsized a second time I wasn't nervous anymore.  We had faced the worst and come out of it together.  For weeks I pondered on the glow of this experience, feeling it a message from God that even though our marriage had gone through some nasty spills and things felt upside down, we were still working together and God would take us through whatever was to come.  This week I was thinking back on that experience and realizing that crisis can actually be a gift that builds our confidence and our faith, an opportunity to find that with God's help we can pull back up and sail again. Mom reminded me of the passage in Romans that says "experience worketh hope."  Romans 5:3-5 NLT says, "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." (NLT)