Living Water: 3 Steps to Coping with Hard Times

I recently had a bit of an epiphany. It came to me in the form of a metaphor. It’s already helped me step through some tough situations. Do you think maybe this can work for you, too?

Start by picturing yourself standing in a pool of crystal-clear water. Your feet are on a solid floor, yet you feel like you are floating. The water’s surface is as smooth as glass, yet a gentle current flows against your body. Is it warm or cool? You can’t decide. Somehow it’s both. It’s perfect.

You cup your hands, take a drink, and you’re simultaneously calmed and invigorated. You’re a bit scared, yet totally content to be up to your neck in this mysterious fluid. Lightning flashes overhead and the name of the place gently rumbles into your mind. The Pool of Good News.

Suddenly you realize you are completely naked. You look all around. There is no one to be seen and yet you are aware of a Presence. It is formidable but friendly. You know you are welcome here. You belong. The Savior gave His life on the cross to make it an eternal certainty.

That’s the first step: Recognize you stand in Living Water. And you are not alone.

But just when you start to think this is heaven on earth, the unthinkable happens. Out of nowhere a bucket of freezing cold water splashes into your face. It’s more than a rude awakening. It’s shocking. Like a thousand tiny darts stabbing you all at once. You barely get your eyes open when it gets worse. A 50-gallon drum of ice water explodes on your head.

Anxious thoughts overwhelm you. “Where is the Presence?” Angry thoughts explode. “I didn’t sign up for this!”

This is the second step: Remember He told us, “Tribulations will come.”

Tribulation is hard. Have you suffered a loss? An injustice? Have you been snubbed? Dissed? Excluded? Is there a burden, a weight, a brick in the pit of your stomach? Or maybe, like me last week, a sin pattern was exposed and smacked you upside the head.

So what do we do? Life is often hard. But the next step is easy. So simple. So effortless. When hard times happen look around. You are still in The Pool of Good News, right? And the pool hasn’t changed. Not one single bit.

So here’s the third step: Sink back into the Living Water.

Go under. Go deep. Stay there until you realize you are not alone. Until you remember He is sovereign and you can trust Him. Until you are overcome once again by the unstoppable love that flows red like blood. Stay right there long enough and the ice will melt, dissolve, and some day disappear.

As you come back up let one of my favorite Joe Coffey quotes resonate in your soul,

Because of who Jesus is and what He did, no matter how bad it gets you can be sure of one thing—it all ends well.