My little girl is in the process of learning how to walk. She loves to take someone's hand and go for it. In that moment she is filled with laughter and excitement with the thought of walking all on her own. However, the moment you let go of her hand she quickly reverts to crawling or she falls altogether. She is taking baby steps that will soon become "big girl" steps. My heart is overcome with joy to watch her reach this new milestone while at the same time hesitant to see her grow up so fast. Yet, I know this is what she was created to do. I know the day will come when she will no longer need to hold my hand to physically walk. I also know that it is my job to shepherd her to realize her need to always hold her Heavenly Father's hand. 

Each time I watch her I can't help but think about the spiritual life. The moment we learn to hold God's hand and walk through life we experience the joy and spiritual satisfaction of being able to walk through life with the peace of God. At some point, though, we gravitate to our own prideful thinking and try to let go of the Father's hand. The moment we do, we experience a great fall and revert to crawling at best.

We are no different than Peter who had enough courage to get out of the boat and walk towards Jesus but soon took his eyes off the Master and began to sink. We were created to walk through life holding our Father's hand. We can not have spiritual peace on our own. The moment we let go of the Father's hand is the moment that we realize just how necessary the hand of God really is. 

If I am brutually honest, I always want my baby girl to need me. Even when she is physically able to do much more than she can now, I want her to want to hold her daddy's hand. More than that, I want her to see her need to hold God's hand. I will do my best to protect her and comfort her when she falls but I can never save her the way her Creator can. 

No matter how old we are - we all need God's hand. We don't need to get beyond the baby steps of walking through life holding the hand of God so that we can truly soar in the life he has planned for us. You can do far more walking with God than you could ever do on your own. 

Are you holding his hand today? He will never let go!