God Makes A Way by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

When my friend Karyn was born she was oxygen deprived and suffered from epileptic seizures. She saw several neurologists during her first few years of life. As a result of the oxygen deprivation, her brain had been affected. She cannot process information in the way most people do. One day a doctor told Karyn and her parents that she would always have difficulty reading and that she would never be able to do math or music because her brain just could not work that way. The doctor said to her parents that she would never graduate from high school. 

But Karyn’s mother would not hear any of that. She prayed to God for her child. And then she put her prayer into action. Karyn’s mother just happened to have a Master’s degree in Special Education. Every night she sat at the dining room table with Karyn and she helped her with her homework. She trained Karyn’s mind how to work and she taught her how to read, even though the teachers couldn’t. Night after night, year after year they worked diligently, until Karyn overcame her learning challenges. But it was hard, because Karyn had to live with that message that doctor gave her: “You’re not good enough. You’re not going to make it.” Well Karyn did graduate from High School, with honors. She then graduated from college with honors, and from seminary with honors. And then got a PhD with honors. On that day her mother walked up to her, gave her a big hug and said, “I don’t care what anybody told us I knew we would be here one day.” Karyn is now a Dean at a seminary and she teaches other people. And you can bet she has never told a student they are not good enough and don’t have the ability to achieve their goals. Karyn found a way. Her mother found a way. God found a way for Karyn. 

Our scripture for today is about making a way where there is no way. You may recall that the people of Israel were living as slaves in Egypt. God sent Moses to bring them into freedom. Moses went to Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go,” but of course Pharaoh said, “No” because the people were his slaves and he needed really cheap labor. After some plagues of frogs and locusts and such, Moses finally told the people it was time to go. They packed up and left, but Pharaoh’s army started chasing them. They came to a large body of water, too deep for them to pass. And so the people were facing water on one side and Pharaoh’s army on the other, and they panicked. They said to Moses: 

“Were there not enough graves in Egypt? Why did you have to bring us out into the wilderness to die? We were better off as slaves. We never should have listened to you. Now we are going to die here in the wilderness.”

But Moses said to them: “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do the work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you’re never going to see them again.

^“God will fight the battle for you.
    And you? You keep your mouths shut!”

“And then God said to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites. Order them to get moving. Hold your staff high and stretch your hand out over the sea: Split the sea! The Israelites will walk through the sea on dry ground.”

You remember the story from here, don’t you? 

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and God, with a terrific east wind all night long, made the sea go back. God made the sea dry ground. The seawaters split.

“The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters a wall to the right and to the left.”

They were saved! The water came over the Egyptians and destroyed them but the Israelites made it safely to the other side safely. God made a way where there had seemed to be no way.  God’s people were saved! They had a great celebration. They gave thanks to God who made a way when there seemed to be no way. 

Just like that, in an instant, they went from people being people with no future, to being people with their whole lives in front of them. God made a way where no way seemed impossible. 

Now, I don’t know many of us that face a situation quite as dire as this one, an army on one side and a wall of water on the other too deep to pass. But we do face situations where we think there is no way forward. I know there are times when we feel stuck. And sometimes it happens because someone says something to us that makes us feel stuck, like my friend Karyn and that doctor. Someone says to us that we are a failure and we believe them. People tell us we can’t move forward and we listen to them. 

We have these “tapes” in our heads. At least we call them “tapes.” This is from the old days before everything was digital and we made tape recordings. We have tapes in our heads that make us think moving forward is impossible. 

What are the tapes you have in your head that make you feel stuck? What has someone told you along the way? Perhaps you that you are not smart enough to go to college; you don’t have what it takes to succeed; nothing good comes from your side of the tracks; you set your goals too high; you’re too old to do that; or too young to do that, women can’t succeed in that field; you’re too bossy, you don’t know your place. 

Here is the problem. We listen to these tapes.  We play them over and over. We believe them. We sleep with them, eat with them, go to work with them, shower with them. We can’t get away from them. But they aren’t true. What is true is the message from God: “Step forward and I will hold back the waters of these negative messages. You can walk across on the dry land of my promises says God. You are smart enough to live into God’s future for you. You are just the right age. You do have what it takes to be the person God created you to be. You were born in just the right place. You have set just the right goals.”

You see, God made you, and God made you with dreams and desires. Those are the dreams and desires that God has for you. God would not give you those dreams and desires if you did not have the abilities to live them out. 

Now, it may take some work. In fact it will take some effort. For example an athlete has to train. You don’t run a marathon or triathlon without training for months, and having a strict training regimen. A student has to study. You don’t become a teacher or a doctor or a social worker without first going to school, taking classes, doing internships, and learning from mentors in your field. If you want to be a leader, that takes work too. A leader has to gain the trust of people who will be followers. You can’t lead if no one follows. 

But, here’s the thing, God wants you to achieve your goal. God wanted the people of Israel to get to the Promised Land. That is why God gave them Moses as a leader. That is why God gave them manna to eat and water to drink in the desert. That is why, when the army was approaching, God made a way across the water and destroyed the army. God led them safely to the other side. But their fear nearly got the best of them. Fear was the enemy.  They did not have faith in God and in Moses. They wanted to give up. They nearly just sat down by that river and let the army overtake them, and drag them back to be slaves in Egypt.

God did not want my friend Karyn to be a slave to the future that Doctor had in mind for her. Her mother saw a brighter future for her. And so they worked for it. They set aside the tape that said she was not smart enough to get an education. She worked, and with God’s help, she reached her goal. 

What is the tape in your head, that you listen to, that keeps you from moving forward into God’s preferred future for you? Who told you that you were not good enough? What did they say? Because whatever it is, it’s not the truth. The truth is you are God’s beautiful child, good enough, and you are just the person God created you to be. 

Today, I invite us to leave those tapes behind. What is the message that holds you back? Write it down on a piece of paper.  We are going to leave our tapes in some water and ask God to hold back the water and let us walk on dry land into God’s future for us, leaving these old tapes behind.   God is waiting, let go and head toward a future for you that God has dreamed with and for you.