Setting the Anchor

When I met my husband, our love for the beaches took us out to deeper waters where we eventually were SCUBA certified and now 3 of the 4 kids are also SCUBA certified. Every other year we rotated our mountain and beach family vacations with beaches always being our favorite kind, mostly because they are way less work, especially with 4 kids in tow.
In 2014, the Lord moved us to Florida where we found it less expensive to buy a used boat than continually pay for 6 people to snorkel or dive every week. It was the first boat either of us had ever driven, much less owned. So crazy! Living an ocean lifestyle has been amazing and the Scriptures have taken on a whole deeper meaning as I study deeper waters, anchors, winds, navigating, stars, cast nets, fishing terms, etc. 
I love hosting friends and family and for the first time, I had some of my dearest Texas girlfriends over for a Girls Retreat. As we headed out for our day on the water, we set our course and readied ourselves with water, sunscreen, good music and stocked the boat with goodies and supplies. After a 15 minute trip out, we approached the buoy at the snorkel spot, got my co-captain help-mate set up to take over the controls so I could grab the line and tie us up. I could have done it by myself, but why, when you have someone willing to help you. It's efficient and just makes sense. Thankfully she is a teachable, confident girl and we communicate really well and think a lot alike. Sometimes it was a hand signal or a look and she just got it. We make a great team getting all the things done and running the boat was no different. She helped me get hooked up and take care of the two other girls who were newer to being in the water and got them in the water. For one of them, it was her first time snorkeling, woohoo!! The water was clear, refreshing and amazingI Great sister snorkel.
Next stop was the local Sandbar so we could chill & chat. Here however, you must drop an anchor. It was a newer spot for me so I wasn't as familiar with the ground density. I handed the controls back over to my co-captain once again and grabbed the anchor, got her aligned to the right depth and dropped the anchor. With waters quickly approaching 12" and less, it's a quick drop. Efficiency is key! You have to get it set so you don't beach the boat or float back out.
As soon as we dropped the anchor, I hopped out of the boat, checked the ground, looking for a solid spot to let the anchor do its thing. Curious, they asked Why and How I knew what to do and I explained how the sand was firm in some areas and mushy in others so it was important to make sure we had hit solid ground and it was caught so the boat wouldn't float away as we tootled around the sandbar looking for shells and critters. I only knew about the soft spots because I was familiar with the sandbar and remembered the bottom floor. It's a long swim if your boat gets away, haha! Who knew one of the smallest things on the boat could be so important besides the motor prop (another blog about the tongue coming soon)!
The first drop was not solid ground. It landed into very soft sand and the anchor sank a good foot below. As I pulled on it, it almost felt like a suction had been created and boy oh boy was it hard to pull it out of there. I couldn't do it and had to have my skilled co-captain girlie pull it out with the help of the boat. I swam over a few feet and found solid ground and set my anchor there, whew. 
Each morning we enjoyed our gathering around the table drinking our morning lattes, eating breakfast and feasting in the Word. This was one of my most favorite parts to every day, starting out anchoring ourselves rightly. As we enjoyed the Sandbar, the anchor conversation reminded me of our Bible Study that morning as we talked about the steadfast and faithful love of our God, the anchor to our soul. 

• Without our Anchor, how will we remain in the place we are supposed to be?
• If we set our Anchor in mushy ground, the smallest of currents can slowly pull the boat away. We must set it on a firm foundation so when strong winds come, we won't drift places we hadn't planned on going. And, if we place our anchor in shifting sands, and it sinks...boy oh boy do I know the extra grief and muscle it takes to set it back right.
• Having an Anchor is crucial to keep you where you need to be. The bigger your anchor, the greater the hold. 

It's so easy in life to put our hope in things of this world only to find ourselves in places we didn't plan to be and in deeper waters than we meant to go. 
There really is no greater Anchor than the Lord our God. He is steady and steadfast. He will keep us where we need to be if we allow Him to ground us on a firm foundation, His Cornerstone. 
And can we talk about co-captains? Yes, we can do almost anything by ourselves, but why would we if we have help? I am thankful for anchoring sisters to do life alongside me just as I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells with us as our Helper and is familiar to where we are and can keep us focused and in the right direction. We are wise to lean into the One Who knows the ground beneath us, knows how to set our anchor outside of shifting sands that we would be kept in place, not tossed to and fro or drifting afar.

Anchor Sisters, Literally!

Lessons learned: 

• Have the right Anchor! You create a lot of extra work and unnecessary stress when you don't have the right one. 
• Know your foundation. Thank God for grace when it's the first time in a new place and you don't get it right, with a Helper, you can get unstuck and try again, and again, and again. 
• We need Anchoring friends.
• Avoid shifting sands.
• Hook your anchor on The Rocks or Solid Ground to stay put.
• God is endless grace. 
• He is steadfast. 
• He is sovereign. 
• He is faithful. 
• He is The Anchor to my soul, amen.

"So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf," 

Hebrews 6:13-20

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? 

Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great." Luke 6:46-49

Rescued from the Pit

"Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer. But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life." Genesis 37:3-4, 11, 18-19, 21

Jealousy. False accusations. Anger. Betrayal. Intercession.  If we are honest, we have all experienced one of more of these at one time or another in our life, as the one who was the "accuser" and the one who was "accused."

Here in Genesis, Joseph is favored by his father and his brothers are jealous. It is not recorded that Joseph was skipping around singing, " I am the favorite, nanny-nanny-boo-boo." He is portrayed as a good 17 year old kid, obedient and caring, and one who sees the things of God (in dreams). And yet, his brothers could hardly stand it enough. The brother's jealousy came to the point of plotting a forever separation, a quick decision to put Joseph to death. The moment they saw him from afar coming to them (to care for them mind you), they were lock and loaded, ready to kill. If it weren't for big brother Rueben speaking up and taking action, Joseph would not have been spared. Reuben interceded on Joseph's and probably their Dad's behalf too knowing he was so favored. 

"So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers listened to him." Genesis 37:23-27

Can you even imagine what Joseph must have been going through during all of this?! Righteous anger and deep grief fills my heart for him. How terrifying. He was innocent. He had come to check on his brothers and they betrayed him not just once, but twice! First, into a deep pit without water and you know he had to have put up a fight although the scriptures don't say, then thanks once again to big bro, he then escapes certain death and but is sold into slavery, which was obviously a divine appointment of rescue from God.

"The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. One day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me." But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, she called to the men of her household and said to them, "See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice." Genesis 39:2, 11-14 

Sold to Pharaoh as a servant, he is once again betrayed, falsely accused! But another intercessor was there-God! He rescued Joseph from yet another pit. "And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison." Genesis 39:20-21 

They say words are a lamp into the soul. Look at Joseph's words here: "For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit." Genesis 40:15 His heart was pure, calm, innocent and trusting. 

"Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. Joseph answered Pharaoh, "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." Genesis 41:14, 16  Pure, calm, innocent, trusting. I wonder if Joseph would ever be anxious anymore as God continues to rescue him from the pits he seemingly is a magnet for! Joseph was placed into this position of honor at the age of 30 years old. He had been held back in the pit for many long years and yet, look at his demeanor, his heart. I am not sure I would have been so calm or kind. His brothers betrayed him, desiring to kill him! They sold him to slavery. Yet he says, "I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews." Even in the face of what is absolute truth, he doesn't talk disrespectfully of his evil-plotting and jealous brothers. He doesn't slander or plot revenge. He could have easily been plotting his revenge on his brothers for the moment he was able to ever escape and be free. 

"But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love." First, put in a pit. Then sold as a slave. Praise God? Would you have seen that as rescue? Then falsely accused of sexual immorality and put back into the pit. Praise God? It was there in the pit God used him as His spokesperson. Would you ever consider a trial as evidence of God's rescue from something bad to something better? Joseph doesn't know what's on the other side of those brick walls, but he experiences God's steadfast love through it. If there was ever someone who had just cause to get even, plot revenge, be angry, gossip about the injustice brought onto him, it was Joseph. His anger did not cause him to sin. He trusted God brick wall after brick wall. And then, his dreams/prophesies are fulfilled and the brothers are now standing unaware, before the brother they hated. The youngest, hated, Daddy's favorite baby boy was standing before them as their "Life Giver." Once in a place of victim, now Joseph stands in the place of rescuer. The tables have turned to say the least! Two things could have happened, a fleshly opportunity for revenge or a righteous return of God's mercy and rescue. 

"Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, "Make everyone go out from me." So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." And they came near. And he said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life." Genesis 45:1-5 

We have two choices when we are thrown into our "pit." We can use that time to plot evil in our flesh, be angry, anxious, grow bitter...doubting God is actively working on our behalf or we can rest in God's steadfast love, trusting by faith His Love, knowing He has a greater plan for us on the other side of the bricks. Believers are not immune to illness, persecutions, trials. The Bible is clear that we all face everything but that we as Believers can walk in peace, comfort and hope, as we remember the faithfulness and enduring strength we have the choice to claim as ours, in Christ Jesus. 

Perhaps you are guilty of sin, and the Lord is disciplining you out His great love for you...be quick to confess your sin, repent and turn from it and stop falling deeper into your "pit." Receive the intercession of the Holy Spirit Himself who may also move through someone else to bring you out of your pit. God gives us each other to help, intercede and encourage so that when we face a trial, we are reminded that we are not alone. What a reminder for us to be aware of those in "pits" around us. Maybe God is sending you to be their rescue. Are you one who sees the things of God and walks in the confidence of Him?

Whatever you are facing, praise the Lord, keep your heart pure, calm, trusting that even though you may be innocent, He is working out something better. He will send you rescue even if it might not look like rescue and you are put in one "pit" after another, seeing only glimpses of sunlight. Can we still praise Him? Will your heart turn from God or toward God? His blessing and recuse for your obedience is near. You will find peace despite your illness, your betrayal, your reputation, your seemingly failures. It may come in the way of an earthy rescue but it may not come till The Refuge of your Soul holds you in His arms in Heaven. Is there anything more we could desire than intimacy with God Himself? A heart fuller of the things of Him? Sweet fellowship with God Almighty, our Fortress and Strength. Here on earth, sanctification will be a journey of pits and valleys, mountains and streams. How will you go through them? 

"See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:15-19

God , rescue us from our pits and may our lips praise Your Precious Name regardless of how many bricks capture us. We want to trust You without waver. Give us Your strength and mercy that we might endure in our faith. God, we surrender our hearts to You, mold them and shape them to be like Yours, calm, pure, honest, innocent and pure. Our hope is in You, no matter. We trust You, no matter. God, help us hear You clearly when You speak.