Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

— Matthew 11:28

Floating in the pool I enjoyed the sensation of weightlessness while at the same time enveloped by the warm water. My sore muscles no longer ached and I didn’t have a care in the world.

I was alone in the pool so I wasn’t concerned about floating into someone. I closed my eyes, going nowhere except into a state of relaxation.

The Lord uses many things to teach me his principles and I suddenly realized I was in the middle of another lesson. As I floated I thought about each aspect of my experience.

First I thought of the water surrounding my body and realized it was holding me up, enabling me to breathe.

Although we aren’t always aware of God’s presence, he never leaves or forsakes us. When we are seemingly drowning in our troubles, he lifts us up and surrounds us with his love.

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV) promises, “The Lord … will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

As the water remained in the pool, so the Lord remains with us through everything we face.

I was able to relax in the warm healing water even though I knew the pain would later return.

In the book of John is the story of a man who wished for healing although he waited for a number of years. People with all sorts of infirmities waited for an angel to come down and stir the pool.

The first person in the water was healed. Here was a man who lived with 38 years of some sort of crippling disease. When Jesus asked if he wanted to be healed the man said he had no one to carry him to the pool.

Jesus healed the man, but what if the man had failed to go to the pool that day? We may or may not be healed, but we should never give up trying to improve our health.

When life gets the best of us it is important to have someplace you can go to get away from the things that pull you down. For me that day it was in the swimming pool where I spent part of the time praying and asking for guidance for the remainder of the day.

God was waiting to hear from me because it says in 1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

On that particular day I wanted to remain in that pool where my cares were far away. However that wasn’t practical because I would eventually look like a prune. Seriously though, I knew life awaited me outside the pool.

I was ready to face the world because I had “living water.” What is living water? Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4 that he is the living water and that accepting him brings everlasting life.

I like that water the best because he is with me for all eternity.

Debra Whittington is a longtime resident of Tucumcari. Contact her at: dawhittington@msn.com