I told a friend the other day that I was going to start nicknaming God “Ironically” because of how often I jokingly say “ironically enough...” followed by some great thing God did.
One of those moments happened today and also involved one of my favorite movies: FINDING NEMO!
As I was driving to work this morning, I was thinking about skin cancer (I’m 39 and facing my third surgery today) and some other life challenges I am still facing and have faced recently. I thought about how God had repeatedly whispered the words “Let Go” to me for several weeks. Suddenly, I remembered the part in Nemo where Marlin and Dory are in the whale. The whale is helping them, but to Marlin it looks like they are trapped...swallowed up. He fights against it and becomes hopeless. When happy Dory says the whale is telling them to do something crazy, move further in, go deeper, Marlin resists, even tho Dory has been right in the past about crazy things. Dory tells him the whale is saying to “let go” but Marlin is scared. So the whale forces them to move by raising its tongue, but Marlin still stubbornly grabs on and then tries to keep Dory from falling, too. Dory tells him “It’s time to let go.” Marlin looks at the abyss beyond her, then back at Dory. He is scared, but he knows he has to make a choice...does he trust her and the whale and let go, or does he not? He closes his eyes, and lets go. And letting go actually sets him free! And delivers him to his next destination.
I thought today how accurate that is in my life right now. The problems surrounding me sometimes feel like they are going to swallow me. Sometimes I exhaust myself by trying to get out on my own. It feels like a hindrance. All the while Jesus is happily swimming next to me and saying, "This thing you’re in is actually going to help you get to your next destination, but YOU HAVE TO TRUST ME AND LET GO." Sometimes, he forces us to move deeper. Sometimes, he gets us to the end of our abilities to get us out of our way. But he doesn't force us to let go. He wants us to choose to trust him.
How often do we look at Jesus, who is asking us to fall WITH him, and we still choose to hold on and try to control things? How often do we look past Jesus at the unknown and choose to stay in the bad place that we can see?
Well, “ironically enough”, after these thoughts I pulled up my FB memories and TWO of my memories over the last 7 years involve NEMO!
People, YES, this is kind of funny to say that Jesus is speaking to me through a cartoon about a fish, but Jesus is so kind and good like that! He cares about us. He validates his words to us. He not only gave me one, but two validations that this reminder was from Him today! He doesn't just love us. He LOVES us!
He loves you. Are you listening?
Do you feel like you’re being swallowed up in the middle of your hard stuff today? Let go and fall with Jesus! Cast all your care on Him. Not only will it set you free of your worry and anxiety, it will deliver you to the next place you’re supposed to be!
But the choice is yours!
🐟 🐳 #2018Choose
(👇🏼 this is the movie clip, if you’re interested!)
https://youtu.be/O_u4h_N2lTw
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