Learning to dive: Learning to trust

I'm 22 years old and just learned to dive.

I've always been afraid to dive, so I never did. I also never had anyone to teach me... until this summer, anyway. While in CA, I had the opportunity to visit a family (Betsy and Ron) that used to go to my church in IN when I was a little girl. I knew them for about 4 years before they moved to CA. It was great being able to stay with them and visit. One afternoon when Betsy and I were swimming, she asked me if I knew how to dive. I said that no, I don't know how to dive, and that I was afraid to. She said she would teach me and that I didn't need to be afraid. She showed me a few times and then encouraged me to do it. I stood at the edge of the pool in the diving stance, looking pensively at the water. I kept expressing my fear, but each time Betsy was encouraging, saying things like, "You can do it." and "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." As I took the diving position once again, I still felt fear, despite her promise. I just couldn't do it on my own.

Betsy got out of the pool and came to my side. She said she would do it with me, so we took our position and Betsy counted us off. "1, 2, 3!" The next thing I knew, I was coming up from the water with a smile on my face. I did it. I dove into the water for the very first time. I was so proud of myself.

This came to my mind earlier this evening as I was thinking about how I really need to trust God right now. God usually explains things to me using experiences I've had or any number of other things, putting them into analogies. He used learning to dive as an analogy to trusting Him.

When Betsy was teaching me how to dive, I felt very fearful, despite my desire to learn. But, after the first dive, I did it over and over again. With each dive, my fear and anxiety diminished little by little and my joy and excitement grew and grew. Now, I love diving! It's the same with God. He says I can trust Him and promises He won't let anything happen to me. When I put my trust in Him the first few times, I'm going to experience fear and anxiety, and that is okay. But, as I trust Him over and over again, finding Him to be true to His promise, my joy is going to grow and my fear will dissipate. Soon, I will have such a joy in trusting God that I won't hesitate to, just like I have no hesitation in diving.