{"id":68,"date":"2012-06-07T02:43:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T02:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/?p=68"},"modified":"2015-03-25T15:12:40","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T15:12:40","slug":"the-current","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/?p=68","title":{"rendered":"The Current"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My family and I&nbsp;recently went to a large water park.&nbsp; We spent two full days in the sun and water.&nbsp; We had a wonderful time.&nbsp; Some of the rides were thrilling.&nbsp;&nbsp;We would start off with a sudden drop only to twist and turn and drop some more until&nbsp;we ended with a large splash at the bottom.&nbsp; There was a lot of screaming involved. (Yes, I am a chicken, but I loved the rides!)&nbsp; Some of the other rides were a bit more relaxing, like the lazy river.&nbsp; For this ride, there were currents that would push&nbsp;us down the river.&nbsp; There were a few rapids thrown in from time to time for a little excitement, but mostly&nbsp;we were to float and enjoy.&nbsp; However, I found myself not enjoying.&nbsp;&nbsp;I was getting caught in currents (we called them &#8216;the vortex&#8217;)&nbsp;that would keep&nbsp;me circling in one place for quite some time.&nbsp; Often times,&nbsp;my traveling buddies would pass by unable to help.&nbsp; So there&nbsp;I floated until I was bumped by another rider&nbsp;or a lifeguard helped me.&nbsp;&nbsp; And once moving I paddled furiously to catch up to&nbsp;my friends.&nbsp; It could get very frustrating.&nbsp; And not very relaxing.<\/p>\n<p>At one point, I looked back and saw my oldest daughter caught in the vortex.&nbsp; I was struck by the look on her face.&nbsp; She was stuck, but didn&#8217;t seem all that concerned.&nbsp; She knew that in time she would get out.&nbsp; She also knew that sooner or later she would catch up to us or we would stop and wait for her.&nbsp; She was enjoying the ride.&nbsp; So while I struggled, she surrendered to the current.&nbsp; While I wore myself out, she relaxed and went where the water took her; trusting that she would get to where she wanted to&nbsp;go.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>I so want to be like her&nbsp;as I walk this journey.&nbsp; All too often, I struggle against where God is taking me.&nbsp; I think I&#8217;m not moving fast enough or in the right direction.&nbsp; I&nbsp;become troubled because others seem to be passing me by.&nbsp; They seem to be making&nbsp;progress while I&#8217;m stuck in the same place unable to catch the current.&nbsp;&nbsp;I become tired, worn out, grumpy, and unmerciful.&nbsp; That is not who I want to be.&nbsp; So, I&#8217;m learning to&nbsp;surrender to the current.&nbsp; I&#8217;m allowing God to determine where I go and how fast I&#8217;ll get there.&nbsp; I&#8217;m learning&nbsp;to enjoy the ride.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My family and I&nbsp;recently went to a large water park.&nbsp; We spent two full days in the sun and water.&nbsp; We had a wonderful time.&nbsp; Some of the rides were thrilling.&nbsp;&nbsp;We would start off with a sudden drop only to &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/?p=68\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}