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Stuck.

16 Sunday Nov 2025

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Have you ever been stuck? I mean, REALLY stuck? The kind of stuck where you can’t get out on your own no matter how hard you try? I have! It happened to me a couple of years ago while fly fishing with my husband and daughter. I’ll never forget it.

That day, my husband, my daughter and I decided to go fly fishing together. They were going to fish together up stream a ways, while I fished back a good distance behind them. It had been a couple of hours or so, and everything was going so well. The sun was shining bright, the insects were buzzing, the wind in the trees was blowing gently, and I had this whole part of the stream to myself! It was heaven! Then I saw it…something wonderful caught my eye up ahead! I could see there was a deep fishing hole in the stream ahead that was calling my name! I had to get closer to it, as I KNEW it had to have some good sized trout in it! But to get there, I’d have to wade through some deeper and much faster moving waters. I sized up the deepness of it, and the fast moving current, and all too quickly made my extremely uneducated decision. I would go for it!

Are you nervous for me yet?

Confidence in my own abilities was soaring high…and so I carefully (yes, I said carefully) waded through the fast moving waters that were quickly getting even faster (going the same direction as I was)…and suddenly deeper…almost chest high in some places. I was heading to an enormous rock ahead and to the left in the stream so that I could “hide” behind it, so the fish wouldn’t see me coming. The rock came out probably three feet higher than the surface of the water. That would be a great place to fish from behind! As I made my way there, all of a sudden, a fast current pushing me from behind caused me to lose my footing and suddenly it slammed my leg…more specifically my shin…into the huge rock I was heading toward. I KNEW I had broken it…there was no way it could survive that impact unharmed. There was a searing pain in my leg, and I suddenly cried out, “Jesus! Heal my leg!!” I was in so much pain! If I could just get out of the deepness of the waters and onto this large rock in front of me, I could possibly climb up to the embankment high above me and see the damage on my leg. But without the strength of my leg to help me climb onto the rock, I found myself suddenly stuck between this enormous rock, and the fast waters behind me pushing me into it. Every time I tried to climb or use my leg, I’d cry out in pain! I couldn’t even wade back from where I had come…because the current was rushing against me! There must be a way out!!

As quickly as the waters came pressing toward the back of my body, was the pressing realization that I might actually be stuck! Stuck!! Try after try, I just couldn’t get out of this deep water and climb onto the rock. The pain in my leg was intense. I had my cell phone on me, sealed up in a waterproof bag…but there is no cell reception in this part of the mountains. I had brought it just to take pictures with. I could have taken a selfie: “Here I am…stuck!” for people to find later when my body was found!! We usually brought walkie talkies..but we left those at the cabin! I was completely and utterly helpless and alone.

Or so I thought.

Do you know that expression “stuck between a rock and a hard place”? Well, that was how I felt…literally! I looked up the expression and it basically means being in a difficult situation with a choice between two equally unpleasant or difficult options…or that there is no good way out. But there WAS a way out I had not considered at first but was now coming to mind. I DID have an option…and that was to pray. I knew God saw where I was, and that He was with me! I had to rely on the fact that if He heard, He would send me help. I laid my hand on my hurting leg and prayed again for healing over it, and that it would not be broken. I then prayed that my husband and daughter would come find me quickly as they would definitely notice me missing at our meeting spot. But that was still a long time away. I was to wait.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

But then, all of a sudden, there they were! They finished early and were trying to find me. I have never felt more relieved to see anyone in my life! I quickly told them what had happened and that I couldn’t reach the above embankment that they were looking down at me from. Without hesitation, my amazing husband got down his knees on the embankment above, and stretched his hand down toward me and told me to hold on. He was going to literally pull me out of the stream from above! THAT would have been the photo moment of the day!! And pull me out, he did! With his amazing strength, and with my daughter also helping pull me up as I got closer, I was rescued!

Psalm 40:1-3 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.”

And what of my leg, you ask? It was the biggest bruise and swelling I’ve ever had…but it was not broken! I think God answered that prayer too!

Thinking back to that day that my husband pulled me out of being stuck, reminds me of how God pulls us out when we are “stuck” in life! He watches us get ourselves into difficult situations, but He is always there…ready to save…and ready to heal! He doesn’t reprimand us or make us feel bad for getting ourselves stuck in the first place. He simply pulls us out, loves us, and leads us steadily back to safety. But we have to call on Him! We need to realize it’s HIS help that we need.

Isaiah 43:18-19 tells us, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

I have gone fly fishing since then…and I have learned to be a bit more careful. I think twice before heading into deep and fast waters now. But the same is true in my life as well. Although difficult circumstances can leave me feeling stuck, with no way out…I just remember being pulled out of the deep waters I was in… and I know I have a God who goes with me everywhere I go and is there to pull me out if I should ever get stuck again.

“Hand For Me?”

19 Sunday Jan 2025

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“Hand for me?” I looked up at my Dad and his big smile spread across his face as he took my little hand in his much larger one. His hand has always been bigger, warmer, stronger, and has made me feel safe and secure. As I grew up, it became “our thing” when going on a walk, for one of us to ask the other one that question. One of us would lean in and ask the other one, “hand for me?” and the other would smile knowingly and take their offered hand.

Growing up, there were times when holding my Dad’s hand became not only a sweet “hand for me” moment, but also absolutely essential! I can remember on more than one occasion being in a fast moving part of a trout stream, fly fishing with my Dad, when he would tell me to take his hand so he could help me cross the stream safely. Taking my hand in his, he would hold it securely to keep me from getting swept into the deeper or faster moving water. He was keeping himself steady, while also making sure I was safe as we would take careful measure to cross to the other side. He made it look so easy, but I was clinging to his hand for dear life! The water was so much stronger than me, it was fast moving, and often times deep! As we’d carefully cross, he would coach me on where to place my feet, where to place my walking stick, or “third leg” as we’d call it, and to also put my feet where his had been since he’d already made sure those spots were secure. Before long, we’d be in safer, slower moving, more shallow waters and back to our fishing.

My Dad also taught me how to hike up and down steep hills. It sounds silly to some, but if you have ever been hiking on a hill with slippery pine needles or loose rocks, it can be a little exciting to say the least. My Dad, again, would take my hand, but he’d be on the lower part of the hill, so if I slid, he’d catch me. He’d hold my hand and tell me how to step safely so as not to slide. There’s a technique and I still use it today when I hike on hills. It’s as if I can hear his voice in my head telling me where and how to step, and what to look out for as I use tree roots to grab and so forth.

My Dad is turning 90 this month. We no longer fjord fast moving streams together, or hike on steep hills, but it doesn’t change the fact that his hands are still bigger, warmer, and stronger than mine. They still make me feel just as secure. Without realizing it, my Dad taught me how to walk in difficult places. The Lord showed me that the other day.

You see, just as my Dad held my hand in the difficult and even scarier parts of the stream, so does Jesus hold my hand in the scary waters of life, and there have been some. When I feel myself slipping down a steep hill, it’s my Father’s voice that I hear telling me where to step next… just as my Dad would do. God is always positioned to catch me, to hold my hand in His strong, warm, big, and secure one, and to speak strategy to me on where to take my next step.

God showed me something else. Just as I was taught by my Dad how to walk in difficult places, God wants me to help teach others how to walk in difficult places too…to hold their hands and remind them that it’s Jesus who is really the One walking with them.

One day I will be turning 90, and I’m sure I will still remember the warmth of my Dad’s hand, and hear his voice in my head in the difficult times, and be reminded that it’s God who’s holding my hand and asking “Hand for Me?”