Greetings from Okinawa! We are getting settled in to our new life and home for the next few years. I think we’re going to have a great time, and it will be fun to see God working.
The other day, we stopped at the base pool for something to do. As we signed in, the lifeguard told the kids if they passed the swim test, they could go in the deep end and use the diving board. David quickly signed up, and the lifeguard told him they would call him up at the next swim break. The girls were quite a bit more hesitant. They both know how to swim, but they’ve not done a lot of swimming since last summer when we had our own pool. Finally, Laurel decided that she wanted to try and signed up. Bethel told me she wanted to wait. No problem.
At the break time, all three kids walked over to the deep end where they were doing the test. After David and Laurel passed the test and got out of the water, I was surprised to see Bethel crying beside me. Ahhhh…. She WANTED to take the test, but she DIDNT want to. Makes perfect sense to me. So I told her she had to take the swim test, and pulled her over to the lifeguard to take it. No problem.
Of course she passed. Later, I gave her a mini lecture. You know, Mom isn’t always going to be around to push you to do the things you want to do, but are afraid to do. You’re going to have to learn to push yourself.
The next afternoon, my friend asked me if I was ready to drive to a particular park by myself. The children were waiting to hear my reply. Gulp. You know, drive on the left side of the road…. outside of base…. and get home without anyone to follow. I WANTED to drive, but I DIDNT want to. I am sure thankful that God is our faithful heavenly father who pushes us gently to do those things we’re a little bit afraid to do on our own. I need to talk with Bethel again. Yes, part of growing up is learning to push ourselves; yet I am thankful for the means that God uses to give me an encouraging push, like my children asking when we are going to explore our island, and my own lectures that come back to haunt me!