"I Will Not Drown in Shallow Waters!"

When I was a girl growing up in Star Hollow,some of my fondest memories center around picnics at the Creek.At one of these outings,with my mother,sister,brothers and various cousins,no doubt,I was wading in the cool,clear creek.What happened next followed me all my life.I remember the darkness,being engulfed by water.I also remember sudden bursts of air as Isurfaced at least a couple of times.My life almost ended right there at the age of six.Throughout my life,I have battled a horrible fear of water,especially getting my face or head under.Having older brothers that delighted in throwing me in the water at times didn't help either.My oldest sister told me more about this memory a few years ago.She said we were not at our familiar creek and that indeed I had stepped off into a deep hole as creeks are known for and she said I went down and resurfaced three times before they got me out.Deep holes of water in a creek are legitimate places to lose your footing,maybe as many as three times,but with God's help and the hands reaching out from family and friends,you can regain your sure footing,be helped back to dry ground.
We have all heard the tragic stories of maybe a toddler drowning in 12 inches of water or one about the accident victim knocked out ,no other apparent injuries,yet he loses his life,drowning face down in a few inches of water.I worried about this as all parents should when my children were small.When they were in the bathtub, I was right there.When my youngest was barely two,she was in the tub and I heard the neighbour girl screaming at my front door.hastily I grabbed Lori up,wrapped her in a towel and rushed ,dripping water,to my front door.The girl's drunk father was beating up her mother and she ran to me for help.What to do??I deposited my dripping wet,towel wrapped 2 year-old on my front steps and sternly told her not to move and with one eye on her and praying desperately,I went to help my neighbour.Between us,we managed to bring him down and I proceeded to sit across his legs(one of them was wooden)while his wife called the cops.All in a day 's work!!!Back to my point of story.Unless you are completely knocked unconsious,or yet to young to realize the danger,you have no excuse to drown in shallow water.
Sometimes,I confess,I have landed,figuretively speaking,face down in the murk and the mire of malicious talebearing brought against me.I also have to say that sometimes I have laid there with the nastiness of it beginning to ooze out of my nostrils,when that still small voice says,"Thou art fearfully and wonderfully made.I made you.I know who you really are.You are not that person."Then and only then am I able to draw strength from Him and rise up out of shallow waters that had the power to even kill me had I not risen above it
Maybe today you are battling some things you have no control over.He said,she said,he said again.There is such power in the spoken word.That is why we can't help but be wounded in our spirit by them and why we should always be careful what we speak.Shallow waters become stagnant,putrid,putting off a strong stench.Quick,arise,shake the stench and mire from your face and determine,with God's help,"I WILL NOT DROWN IN SHALLOW WATERS!" "In my distress I cried unto the Lord,and he heard me." Psalms120:1