My family and I were enjoying a day on a secluded beach on Lake Michigan—swimming, building sand castles, and simply enjoying the lovely scenery all around us. In the afternoon, my husband and toddler took a nap on the shore, and I, accompanied by my sister, took my older son into the water to jump and play in the waves, which were growing taller. 

After about 30 minutes, we were all feeling tired, so we decided to swim back to shore and rest. But while playing in the waves, my son and I had gotten farther out into the lake, to the point where we were having trouble standing or touching the bottom. My sister was closer to shore, and my son and I tried to swim toward her, but we were being pushed deeper into the lake by a strong rip current underneath us.

I could tell we both needed to feel God’s love, support, and guidance right in the midst of this threatening situation. I put my son on my back because he no longer had the strength to fight the rip current thrusting us farther into the lake. I tried to voice spiritual truths to him, but the waves kept submerging us underwater. Each time we went under, I somehow managed to get us both up for a breath of air. But I was finding it increasingly difficult. 

Then my son and I took a breath that seemed it might be our last. I reached out firmly to God and said: “I can’t physically do this anymore. I give up. It is just too hard for me!” 

Immediately after I surrendered all to God with that declaration, I felt several strong pushes toward shore, and very quickly I realized I had been pushed to a place where I could now at least touch bottom. I felt renewed strength, energy, and determination to get to shore. Within minutes my son and I were crawling out of the water, getting cheers and hugs from my sister, all of us rejoicing that God had delivered us safely. 

After I had time to reflect on what had happened, a sentence from the classic article “God’s Law of Adjustment” by Adam H. Dickey came to thought: “If a man were drowning in mid-ocean with apparently no human help at hand, there is a law of God which, when rightly appealed to, would bring about his rescue.” The author adds, “It is not necessary for us to know in each individual case just what this law of God is nor how it is going to operate …” (The Christian Science Journal, January 1916).

What that meant to me was that when I had decided to give up on human will—relying on myself (my physical body strength) to get us to shore—and instead solely let God do His work (upholding us, keeping us safe and secure), we were instantly moved to shore. My thoughts had yielded to God’s all-present power, and that saved us.

Deborah Wright
Lansing, Michigan, US