A new swimming pool opened in my home town when I was around 10 years old and my parents enrolled me in swimming classes. As I made progress, I was moved into the advanced group at the deep end of the pool. We lined up and one by one had to swim across. When it was my turn and I jumped in and swam about half-way across the pool when I started to panic. I couldn’t breathe and started flailing. The life guard jumped in and brought me back to the side of the pool. Once I was ok, the instructor sent me back to the intermediate swimming lessons. I felt embarrassed and ashamed.

I wish he had taken the time to help me face whatever fear I was feeling and gave me another chance to swim across the pool. Instead I felt like a failure and was punished and sent away.

We come face to face with our fears almost every day. All too often we quit and walk away, never knowing if we were going to reach our goal.

Can we ever really fail? In essence, we try something new and when it doesn’t work the way we want, we have the chance to reorganize and try again. Isn’t that a kinder, gentler way to see it?

We build faith when we take risks and face fears. We discover resources and strengths we didn’t know we had. We learn to trust that we have what we need when we need it.

There is freedom in faith. Faith is knowing that whatever I need will be provided; whether it’s having the strength to face a challenge, courage to speak my truth, or help in times of struggle.
Faith. It does a body good.