Fully Equipped

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Surely God doesn't know what He's talking about with this one"? When you were taught in Sunday school that God is omniscient surely your teacher forgot to mention that there's this one area where He doesn't actually know what He's talking about. Maybe I shouldn't admit this to the countless amounts of people I'm sure read my blog, but sometimes I think that way.
My mom babysits a four year old little boy and today we took him swimming. Since he hasn't been in the water much and doesn't know how to swim yet, he had on this huge floatation device that was built in to his little swim suit. It was basically like a built in life jacket. At first, he wouldn't get in the water without my mom and when they got in, he clung to her so tightly I thought her arm might fall off! She walked around in the water with him grasping onto her arm for awhile, but then tried to get him to float on his own. She knew that she had given him all of the necessary equipment to stay afloat if he would only let go. As soon as she would let go of him though, panic would consume him and you could just see the fear all over his face. I was watching by the side of the pool and was trying to help him by telling him how his floatie was there to keep him safe and he didn't have to be afraid to do it by himself when I thought that that's how I act in life sometimes. Now, my analogy is a little flawed because God never sets us out to do anything on our own, He is always there with us, but sometimes I forget that He has equipped me to do what He's asked me to! He has something planned for me that He's prepared me to do, but instead of having faith that I can do what He's called me to, I cling to what feels safe and let fear consume me. After Ryle (the little boy) finally starting believing us and trying to float on his own, He started having a blast! He was splashing around and screaming, "Chrisssy" (he can't say my name) "watch me! I'm doing it all by myself!" He was so excited and we all showed him how proud we were. In the back of my mind I was thinking, "See? If you would have believed us sooner, you could have been having this much fun the whole time!" I can't help but think that God feels that way about us sometimes. When we finally gather enough faith to do what He's asking, we realize that He's given us all of the necessary tools to succeed! While we, in our silliness, are continuously amazed that God actually knows what He's talking about, He has to be thinking, "See? I told you it would work out!" Maybe one day I'll learn.