I have been writing and sharing my stories for over a decade. In the beginning I would just write something and send it via email to my closest friends. Eventually their friends started asking to be on my list and it grew. In 2009 I started an “official” subscription list. Anyone who wanted to read my eDevotionals could go to my ministry website and sign up. (You still can at www.claudinehenry.com)
This week, I was clearing out computer files, and found this one. It made me smile. Hopefully it will make you smile, too. And give you a chance to see a bit more of what I do. Enjoy!
Step-by-Step
During my sophomore year, the small college I attended sponsored an all-school ice-skating party. They rented a local hockey rink, hired a DJ to play music, and announced the details to the student body. I remember trudging up the stairs to my fourth floor dorm room and seeing the poster for the first time.
I was excited. I loved ice-skating and was pretty good at it. In fact, my sister-in-law, who was very good at it, had been taking lessons and had taught me several tricks. I just knew that I was going to go to the party and be one of the best skaters there.
But the night of the party, as I stepped on the ice, a funny thing happened . . . I fell down. Hard. Immediately. The minute my foot touched the ice.
Embarrassed, I let Larry, help me up. I could tell he was trying not to laugh.
“Wow. I have no idea what that was about.” I said as I wobbled and tried to get my balance. “I hardly ever fall.”
Larry didn’t say anything. He just fought back a smile, took my hand and helped me start around the ice again.
That time I made it about three feet and WHOMPF! I went down again.
Really embarrassed, I let him pull me up. “That is weird,” I stammered. “I promise I actually know how to skate.” I looked at him and he wasn’t even trying to hide his smile.
Two steps later I fell again.
That time Larry was no longer smiling, he was laughing. I’m sorry I’m laughing,” he said. “But you are the one who is supposed to be the great skater.”
My friends were laughing, too. “Hey Claudine, need a pillow?”
“We are going to have to start calling you Grace.”
“Watch out! Roadblock!”
I was mortified. More than that, I was confused. How could I be falling when I was just trying to take a normal step? I knew how to skate. What was wrong?
I stood again. This time I refused help. I was mad. I was going to figure this out myself.
I remember stepping out with my left foot and pushing off with my right, into what should have been a normal glide. Instead, my foot once again skidded and I started to fall.
Larry, gentleman that he is, was ready that time. He grabbed me, steadied me and saved me from hitting my backside for the fourth time.
“Maybe we should just go sit down for a minute,” he suggested.
“No. I can skate,” I said, stomping my foot and crossing my arms. “I don’t know what is wrong but something is. I promise, I really do know how to do this.”
With that I turned and started off again. I made it about five feet before my left foot started turning sideways. I grabbed the railing and pulled myself to a stop. Looking at Larry I stomped my left foot and said, “This ice is too hard.”
With that he doubled over laughing. “Claudine, ice is SUPPOSED to be hard. It is frozen. That is how you skate on it.”
“You just go skate.” I demanded waving him off. “I’ll be fine.” With that I turned, held my head up, backed down the railing, and finally stepped off the ice. I was so embarrassed I just wanted to get away.
Taking a seat I put my head down in my hands. I was frustrated and unclear on why I couldn’t seem to skate anymore. I glanced down at my feet. “What’s wrong with you?” I said. “Why aren’t you working?”
Then I saw it . . . the reason for my falling. My left skate had a silver colored piece of hockey tape wrapped completely around the blade. I hadn’t noticed it because it was the same color as the skate blade, but it was there disrupting the glide. It was the cause of my foot never gaining traction. It was the reason that my blade couldn’t penetrate the ice and the ice felt extra hard. It was the cause of my embarrassment. It was the problem. That piece of tape was causing me to fail.
I remember yanking it off, giving Larry, who was standing a safe distance away, an I-told-you-so look, and prancing right back out on the ice. Finally I was able to skate without falling down.
To this day I still laugh when I think about how embarrassed I was, how silly I acted, and how goofy that crack I made about the ice being too hard sounded to him. It was funny.
But the other day (as I drove past that old skating rink, turned grocery store) I realized something else. “That is just like our Christian walk.” I said out loud.
We have things we can’t see that keep us from moving forward; things we won’t acknowledge that cause us to fall down, things that hurt us that we think are too hard. We struggle and struggle and repeat the same thing over and over because we aren’t willing or can’t see what is impeding our journey. We can’t move forward because we have tape on the bottom of our skate!
For me it has been the tape of insecurity, or the tape of resentment, or the tape of disobedience. For some, it has been the tape of addiction, the tape of anger, or the tape of unconfessed sin. The list is endless.
Anything that keeps me from moving in step with my Savior is like that tape on the bottom of my skate.
“Whatever it is,” I said out loud again, “it has to be removed.”
Thankfully, we don’t have to find it and remove it on our own. If we allow Him access to our heart, He will show us the problem (that is called conviction) allow us to give it back to Him (that is called repentance) and help us skate again.
What a precious image that is . . . me with my hand in the hand of my loving Creator, skating side by side, step by step, toward all that He has designed for me to be.
Food for Thought – what the WORD says
- With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God. 2nd Corinthians 7: 1 (The Message)
- Even in hard times when it doesn’t feel like it, you are being transformed into the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 3:18
Prayer Focus – what to pray for now
- Are there things in your life that are wrapped around you like the tape around my skate? Things that you either do not see or are not willing to acknowledge? Are you slipping and falling in the same place over and over again? Ask God to speak to you. Ask Him to reveal any attitude or pain that might be causing you to fall. Once He shows you – let Him have it back. Ask Him to completely remove it. Give it to Him as an offering of your love and submission to Him. Ask Him to help you skate freely side by side with Him.
- Think of the friends or family you know that are bound or wrapped up by the tape of sin. Take a moment to ask God to call them to Himself. Pray for their deliverance and healing. Pray for them to be willing to know and believe in our loving God.
