While we do not often find ourselves at sea on a life raft, we can be grateful that should we encounter difficulties in the sea around the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Mann, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution can come to our rescue.
As we journey through life, there are times when people, events and situations can make us feel as though we are facing a storm or waves or that we are traversing choppy water. What structures, strategies, social networks do you have in place, in your life, to act as a life raft in times of trouble and trauma?
Recall a time when you experienced trouble/difficulty/trauma, and then draw a life raft and write on the planks of the raft the people, places, communities/organisations that helped you negotiate your way through the rough sea, to a more peaceful stretch of water.
When you have completed your raft, consider what else might have been helpful to you at that time? Then write those things on planks and add them to the raft. Are there any steps, you can take to ensure that you have all you need in place, to help you chart troubled waters in the future?
Now reflect on God’s provision for you and take a moment or two to pray with thanksgiving and gratitude. Close by reading Psalm 100 (NIV)
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.