Faith holding back the flood

By PASTOR AMY VITTORIO

Sycamore UMC

As I type this column, I have just returned from a walk at Stepping Stones park where the bluebells and spring beauties currently cover the floor of the wooded areas that wind around the park. They are doing this, despite that it is clear from the mud-covered footpaths that during our recent wetter weather, the ground from which they rise was clearly under the muddy water of the Sandusky River.

 The flowers’ ability to rise and flourish, despite the floodwaters that covered them, is a reminder to all of us that even when it seems that all is lost, even when the odds are stacked against us, even when our future may seem like it is being swept away, that we too can rise and flourish. Because a new day is always around the horizon and in that new day, there are new mercies and new hope and new life because God never stops making everything new.

Psalm 92:13 says, “They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.” Like the flowers, we draw energy and strength from our surroundings, and when we take the time to read and listen to God’s word, as well as lift our voices in song and our hands in prayer in church, it helps to give us the strength to rise in situations that challenge our hearts in any number of ways.

There are certainly no shortage of challenges to be faced: whether they are financial, spiritual, emotional, familial, physical or any other type of trial (for there are too many to list). Sadly, we all know, all too well, how easy it can be for us to be overwhelmed by the metaphorical floodwaters that they can create in our lives and in our hearts.    

Thus, we must do what we can to guard against it by staying connected with the one who brings us hope in every season: good and bad. God’s mercies are new every morning and we can trust that when the waters rise, we can hold onto our faith in Him and continue to flourish.