Today's episode on Finding Your Way Back to God reminds me of the first time I went swimming in the ocean.

I didn't know anything about the rip currents or tides or even dangerous marine life such as jellyfish.

I just knew that the water was big and beautiful and I couldn't wait to get in it.

On one of our vacation trips, I was bobbing gently in the water, letting the waves lift my feet off

the ocean floor, and then they'd pass by, and I just felt like I was just in this cocoon of water.

What I didn't realize is that these same currents that would push me off my feet were also

pulling me away from the shore.

Welcome to Keep the Heart podcast with Francie Taylor.

Francie is an author, teacher, and conference speaker known for sharing biblical insights

that are practical and inspiring. Now back to today's

valuable study. After several minutes of not paying attention, I turned around and I was shocked

to see how far I was from the shore. The tidal movements were

gradually causing me to drift. I wasn't caught in a dangerous rip current, which can even pull a

person underwater, but I was steadily drifting. And if I hadn't turned around, I could have

ended up too far from shore. It would have been just too hard for me to get back.

It would have taken more strength than I had to try to swim back from so far away.

In fact, as it was, it was quite a swim getting back. I'm not a strong swimmer.

And I was almost beyond my ability to get back. Walking away from God is so much like drifting away from the safety of a shoreline.

When a person drifts too far for too long, they soon find themselves so far away that they give up trying to turn back.

Soon they're drowning in a sea of rebellion, believing lies, rejecting the truth.

How can a person find their way back to God?

Let's consider four suggestions, even observations, and then you can spend some time in prayer

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