by Shannon Garrison

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Life has its fair share of pain and hardship. Our difficult seasons can be so overwhelming that they feel almost unbearable. The ugly divorce, the devastating cancer diagnosis, the shocking betrayal of a close friend, the unexpected death of a child, the toxic and abusive relationship—these circumstances can be life-altering, bringing with them a tsunami of emotions.

As we are left reeling in the aftermath, we may face an emotional, relational, spiritual, and physical onslaught that can knock us off course. It takes time to work through our pain. However, if we don’t take intentional steps toward healing and wholeness, we may find ourselves stuck, allowing our pain to pull us away from the abundant life Christ offers.

Our troubles may leave our heads spinning and our hearts pounding. It can feel as though life has suddenly thrown us overboard into turbulent waters. Before we have time to catch our breath, we are tossed by waves of emotion, struggling to regain our bearings. Over time, if we allow our emotions to consume us, the constant fight will wear us down. Without working through our pain and hardships in a healthy way, we can become trapped in a cycle of simply trying to stay afloat.

One minute, we are replaying the pain, holding on to regret, clinging to what we expected life to look like, and placing blame on ourselves, others, or even God for the condition of our lives and souls. The next, we are emotionally spent. We want to close off our hearts, shut out the outside world, avoid people and God, numb our emotions, and distract ourselves from the deep-rooted pain we carry.

While we desperately want relief, this cycle leaves us struggling to keep our heads above water. Eventually, survival becomes our focus. We aren’t progressing toward healing; we are simply trying not to sink.

In a sense, we are treading water.

But treading water was never meant to be our destination, and it hinders us from moving toward healing and the abundant life God offers us.

Picture yourself swimming across a lake, with the lake representing your life in all its complexity.

You begin at one shoreline, with your destination on the other side—the freedom and abundant life Jesus offers. While getting there requires intentionality, perseverance, and dependence on God, He has equipped and empowered you for the journey.

Now imagine attempting that same journey with a heavy weight strapped to your ankle. At first, you are able to compensate for it. You fight against it and press on, determined to keep swimming. But over time, the weight begins to take its toll. Your strength diminishes, your stroke weakens, and reaching the opposite shore no longer feels possible.

Before long, the goal shifts. You are no longer focused on your destination; you are trying to keep your head above water.

So you tread water.

For a while, it works. You survive. But you aren’t getting any closer to shore, and the heavy load continues to drag you down. Eventually, exhaustion sets in, and what was meant to be a temporary survival strategy can no longer sustain you.

This is what can happen when we hold on to heavy burdens for far too long instead of releasing them to God and allowing Him to lead us through our pain. We expend significant energy simply trying to stay afloat without making meaningful progress toward healing and freedom.

The truth is, treading water in life eventually takes its toll.

We see something similar play out in the life of David as he suffered betrayal and persecution from those he loved and trusted:

Listen to my prayer, O God.
    Do not ignore my cry for help!

Please listen and answer me,
    for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.
My enemies shout at me,
    making loud and wicked threats.
They bring trouble on me
    and angrily hunt me down.

My heart pounds in my chest.
    The terror of death assaults me.
Fear and trembling overwhelm me,
    and I can’t stop shaking.

(Psalm 55:1–5, NLT)

Overwhelmed by his suffering, David’s words reveal a man drowning in grief, fear, and despair. But as we continue reading Psalm 55, something begins to shift.

David could not remain consumed by his circumstances. Instead, he turned his attention toward God. He remembered God’s faithfulness and trusted Him to provide the help he desperately needed (vv. 16–19). Then, another essential step is revealed:

Give your burdens to the Lord,
    and he will take care of you.
    He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

(Psalm 55:22, NLT)

David had been swimming in a sea of emotions that threatened to pull him under. Yet instead of allowing his pain to become a permanent dwelling place, he turned his focus toward God and entrusted his burden to the One who could sustain him. As he released the weight, he could move forward lighter and freer, trusting God with what lay ahead.

For us, letting go does not mean bypassing our grief or staying stuck in it. It means accepting what we’ve lost—the relationship, the dream, the expectation, or the life we thought we would have—and releasing the weight we’ve been carrying. As we allow ourselves to grieve in a healthy way with God, we can begin loosening the grip our pain has had on us and move forward.

Like David, we face a choice in our suffering. We may find ourselves in rough waters, weary and depleted from pain, disappointment, betrayal, or grief. We cannot always choose what happens to us, nor can we dictate how quickly healing comes.

We can remain fixated on the waves surrounding us, expending our strength to stay afloat, or we can lift our eyes toward God’s faithfulness and provision. As our focus shifts, hope begins to rise, giving us the courage to release what we were never meant to carry and entrust it to the Father’s hands.

Satan desires to keep us consumed by our pain, trapped in a cycle that eventually wears us down. But Jesus died so that we could walk in freedom, experience healing, and discover the beauty of resurrection life. As much as we may want to ignore our struggles or avoid facing the pain, we must decide how we will respond.

Will we keep treading water?

Or will we begin swimming toward the shore of God’s abundance?

Here’s what we must remember: The abundant life Jesus offers is not reserved for calm waters. His abundance is available even when the waves of life are crashing around us.

He paid the ultimate price to set us free from the things that hold us captive and weigh us down. Yet we must choose to receive what He offers. Moving forward does not mean ignoring our pain or pretending the past never happened. It means refusing to allow what is behind us to keep us from what God has ahead. Like Paul, we can choose to release what’s holding us back and move forward in faith toward Christ:

I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself. Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead. So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God’s call through Christ Jesus to the life above.

Philippians 3:12–14 (GNT)

Paul faced adversity, yet he refused to allow his circumstances or past to keep him from pressing forward. With his focus firmly on Christ, he released what was behind him and pressed on toward the fullness of resurrection life.

Consider your own struggles.

Are there areas of your life where you have been tossed by wave after wave of emotion?

Are you exhausted and depleted, simply trying to survive—to keep your head above water?

Have you begun to believe the abundant life found in Christ is out of reach?

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If you find yourself treading water, bring your struggle honestly before God:

• Invite the Holy Spirit to reveal what needs to be released into God’s hands.
• Ask Him to show you where pain, fear, disappointment, regret, or unmet expectations are keeping you from moving ahead.
• Trust that God will be there, ready to take your burden from you and empower you for what lies ahead.
• Release the things weighing you down so you can heal and move forward in freedom.

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Friend, God has so much goodness and purpose in store for you. You were never meant to spend your life simply trying to stay afloat.

It is time to let go, look up, and press on toward the abundant life found in Christ.