Over Memorial Day weekend Cherie and I visited Nashville, TN. During our visit we toured the Parthenon, a full-size replica of the Parthenon in Greece. Greece’s Parthenon was a temple to the goddess Athena. Apparently Nashville used to be known as the Athens of the South, so I guess constructing a full-size replica of a temple to Athena is the next logical step, right?

While we guided ourselves through this enormous structure, we walked down a hallway with a gallery of artists’ paintings. Of all the paintings, the one shown above spoke to my spirit.

Look at the sailboat on the rocks. The sailboat is us. We all have been on the rocks at one time or another. We find ourselves stuck in a place where life has become complicated with sickness or financial problems or family issues or any number of things. But look closer at the structure of the boat. The mast and the ropes look to be perfectly in tact. All the “bones” are there. There’s just no sail.

Sometimes God rests our boats on the rocks. He knows we need a sail and the wisdom to know how to use it before we can navigate the high seas. He doesn’t want to see us set course unprepared because He knows it will only lead to destruction. And He loves us too much to sit back and let that happen. Sometimes God is trying to teach us or steer us in a particular direction and we aren’t listening, so it’s necessary for Him to go to more drastic measures. He will often set us to the side, away from friends, family, and relationships, until we are one-on-one with Him. He will allow certain trials to come into our lives because when we are in those complicated places and can’t find a way out, our hearts become more willing to listen and our ears become more attuned to hear His voice. Yes, we can all hear God. (Read our newsletter about cleaning out the clutter in our minds.) Navigating through the trial one-on-one with God is a great way to learn to hear and recognize His voice and follow Him (John 10:27).

Sometimes when we are stuck on the rocks, God is waiting for us to let go of something in our life. It could be something internal like pride, selfishness, or unforgiveness. It could be a relationship or a job or something that we falsely find our identity in. Really it could be anything that we put ahead of our relationship with Him. God knows what He is waiting for us to surrender to Him, and He patiently waits for us to be willing to let go.

Notice the sun’s rays shining through the clouds. This is Jesus with us in the storms and hard times of life. Always. Sometimes He may be hard to see, but just like the sun, He is always there. In fact, He is closest at our weakest moments (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

In the past, I have been to a place of nothingness, a ship without a sail. I’m sure some of you have been there, too. But when God has prepared us for His purpose, we receive a new sail, bigger in size, with beautiful colors.

If you enlarge the picture above, you will notice two sailboats sailing freely across the water. They, too, had once been stuck on the rocks. But they learned to surrender those things that kept them stuck and learned to listen to God’s voice. Now they can navigate the high sees, having everything they need.

Once God has prepared us to sail, high tide, the Holy Spirit, comes in, lifting us off the rocks, and we find we have the same freedom the other sailboats have trusting in God. This is God’s will for us – freedom (Galatians 5:1). And we only achieve that freedom by following Him and walking in His will.

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My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.   ~ John 10:27

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”   ~ Corinthians 12:9-10

It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke a slavery.

~ Galatians 5:1