A little over a year ago we were visiting Florida looking into the position at Heritage and vacationing with my parents in Orlando and Sebastian. While we were all in their pool Josiah slipped off the bottom step in the pool and went under! We didn’t see it and it was so silent that we didn’t hear it either. We were all talking in the pool when my mom pointed in terror towards his direction and screamed. I turned and froze, for a moment it was as if I was paralyzed in fear and disbelief. I saw my son underwater motionless!
I broke free and ran to him immediately picking him up, I was so relieved to hear him cough and never so happy to hear him cry. It scared us all that in just 20-30 seconds something so scary could happen and someone so special to us could have been gone! Well, ever since this event Josiah has been terrified of water (and I can understand why).
Shortly after this happened we took him to swim lessons and let’s just say those lessons took a year off my life (not really but I think you get my drift). He screamed and cried everyday for the entire 30 minutes of the lesson – it was exhausting! Time to time Emily and I would try to encourage him to practice with us or move past his fear and try to swim over this past year but with no success. He would only go waist deep into the ocean and cling to us or the walls of the pool.
Well, this week we tried again (this time without us being around). We put both Josiah and Micah in swim lessons dropping them off in the water with their instructors. As we walked out of sight we continued to hear Josiah scream and cry. We could hear and see him but he couldn’t hear or see us. We heard him cry for 30 minutes straight but then something amazing happened…he stopped!
We listened and heard nothing we looked and we saw something simply beautiful, Josiah was learning how to swim in his instructors arms smiling and laughing! I was almost in disbelief! Yes, I had been praying for a long time that God would break the spirit of fear over my son. Yes, I was believing he would learn how to swim and have fun doing it! But it happened at an unexpected moment and brought my wife and I so much joy, comfort and peace! Josiah had a blast all week and was sad for his swim lessons to end. This my friends was a BREAKTHROUGH!
I say all that to say this: Keep praying, keep persisting and keep believing! Your breakthrough is closer than you think and may just happen at a moment you don’t expect!
Blessings,
John
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” Isaiah 60:1
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