The moment the wind filled the sails… she leaned.
I mean, really leaned. Her toe rail kissed the water, and my stomach dropped to places I didn’t know it could go. Everything in me wanted to grab onto something and hold on for dear life.
But here’s the thing…
I had studied for this. We had read the books. We had watched the videos. We had done the learning before we ever untied those dock lines. And somewhere in all of that preparation, I had learned that when a sailboat leans… she’s doing exactly what she was designed to do. The lean isn’t the problem. The lean is the boat responding to the wind, the way she was built to respond.
And in that moment – right there on the water with my heart in my throat – something hit me that I wasn’t expecting.
I knew she would come back up. Not because I could see it happening yet… but because I had learned it. I had studied it. I understood it before I experienced it. And because of that knowledge… I could trust the lean instead of panicking through it.
She was faithful, our strong little boat. She did exactly what she was made to do. She leaned… and she rose again. Every single time.
And right there, with the water rushing past and the wind pulling us forward, God spoke to my heart so clearly…
This is what My Word does for you.
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
– Psalm 119:105 NIV
You see, faith works the same way. There are going to be moments in your life when everything tilts. When the ground shifts and you feel like you’re going under. When the lean is so hard and so sudden that everything in you screams to panic.
But if you’ve spent time in God’s Word… if you’ve studied His promises before the wind hits… if you’ve hidden His truth in your heart during the calm… then when the lean comes, you don’t have to fall apart. You can trust it. Not because the lean isn’t scary. It is. But because you know – deep in your spirit – that your Father is faithful. He will right you again. He always does.
“God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
I think about how many times I’ve tried to face a storm without preparation. Without Scripture. Without spending time in His presence first. And every single time… I panicked. I grabbed for control. I tried to steady myself with my own hands.
But that day on the water, the Lord showed me something I will never forget. The preparation came before the lean. The study came before the storm. And because I had done the learning… I could stand in the scary moment and say, “I know she’ll rise again.”
That’s what the Word of God does for us, Ladies. It doesn’t stop the lean from coming. But it anchors you through it. It gives you the knowledge to trust when everything in you wants to doubt. It gives you the foundation to stand when the world is tilting sideways.
Our Anchored In Hope leaned that day… hard. And she came back up. Strong. Steady. Faithful to what she was built to do.
And our God? He is so much more faithful than any vessel on any ocean. He has never failed to lift His children back up. Not once. Not ever.
So if you’re in a lean right now… if life has tilted and you feel like you’re going under… can I encourage you to go back to the Word? Go back to the promises. Study them. Learn them. Let them sink deep into your spirit before the next wind comes.
Because the lean will come. It always does.
But so will the rising.
And our Father… our faithful, faithful Father… He is in both.
A Prayer for the Lean
Lord Jesus…
Thank You that You are the God who meets me in the lean. Thank You that Your Word prepares me for the moments I cannot prepare myself for. Abba Father, help me to be someone who studies… who learns… who hides Your truth so deep in my heart that when the wind comes, I don’t have to be afraid.
Remind me that the lean is not the end. That You are faithful to lift me again. That just as our little boat rose from the water that day… You will raise me up from every storm, every trial, every moment that tries to take me under.
Give me the hunger for Your Word, Lord. Make me a student of Your promises. And in the scary moments… let me hear Your voice above the wind saying… “I’ve got you. Trust the lean. I will raise you up again.”
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
This is part of the “Lessons from the Water” series. If you haven’t read the story of our very first sail, you can find it here: Our First Sail: Fear, Faith & Fireworks
