Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense to try again. You’re tired of trying, aren’t you? Believing this could change and things could be different is exhausting. So, you’ve settled here, made peace with the unhappiness, and accepted the fact that this is where you are and where you’re going to stay.

This marriage isn’t getting better. He’s not changing.

Your happiest of days have already passed. It’s all just “getting through” from here.

Your dreams never happened and it sure seems silly to be dreaming about it still. Move on already.

The change you desired in yourself always stopped way short of anything that would last. It seems it’s just not meant to be for you.

Is any of this speaking to you? Oh I know it is, because I just spent a whole lot of time with women just like you and this is precisely what I heard. It’s a new year, but you know it’s still just you showing up in higher digits and the odds of things really changing are not in your favor. So, you hesitate. You hold back. You tip toe in. You dream with the lid on.

What would happen if you took the lid off? I mean really just dared to believe that trying again could bring different results. What if you got your hopes up and went all in for things to change this time? Sounds risky doesn’t it? You don’t want your heart to be hurt again. You don’t want to be let down again. You don’t want to look like a complete fool when it doesn’t work.

But is that faith? No, that’s fear. God is calling his girls out of fear and in over their head in faith.

There’s a story in your Bible that is precisely about this place you find yourself in with wanting change, but not seeing change. With hoping for something more, but knowing it’s ridiculous to get your hopes up again. Of facing what hasn’t been working and obediently trying one more time. Now, the lesson is disguised in fishing so we’ve often dismissed it as inapplicable to us, but lets look at it again.

Simon was a fisherman. He caught the fish to sell the fish and provide for his family. Fishing was his career. Simon knew what he was doing. He knew where the fish were and he knew how to catch them. But on this particular day, he had fished all night and caught nothing. Now he stood on the shore, washing his nets to put them away and try again later that evening when the fish would be caught in the dark of night. He must have been tired. He must have been disappointed.

This man Jesus walks up and hops in his boat, and asks Simon to row the boat out a bit from shore so he could teach the people who had followed him. Now, why would Jesus do this? It’s actually quite practical. Sound carries on the water. I know this because I used to live on a lake. There was a house all the way across the lake where a couple had their nightly conversations on their deck. Their voices carried hundreds of yards across the water perfectly. I could hear every word of their conversations, and it didn’t sound like things were going so well for them. I on the other hand, often taught lessons and recorded videos from my deck. No doubt, they heard me loud and clear as well. On land, we could have yelled from that distance and not heard one another. But over the water, our voices carried perfectly.

So, Jesus sits on Simon’s boat in the water and he teaches the people on shore. We don’t even know what Jesus teaches. There’s no account to the teaching, but after he finishes teaching, Jesus says something to Simon that is for every single one of us today. It’s for you who doesn’t want to try again because you’ve been disappointed. It’s for you who has given up on things ever changing. It’s for you who’s heart has become hardened and your walls have gone up because you’re tired of things always being the way they are.

Jesus says in Luke 5:4, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

Here’s why this is so important for you and I today … because trying again is absolutely ridiculous. Simon knew fish were caught in the shallow waters at night. Not in the deep, and certainly not in the middle of the day. Trying this seemed like a waste of effort, and Simon was already tired. He had fished all night. All night he had thrown out that heavy net, and each time he had pulled it back in with nothing. Over and over again he had tried, and he was not successful.

Now this fella Jesus stands on his boat, a carpenter not a fisherman, and tells him to launch out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch.

And at this point, Simon had a choice. A choice to trust and try, or question and leave. Just as you have a choice, my sister. Right here in your situation, the situation that hasn’t been changing. The situation that has left your frustrated and exhausted. Will you trust and try, or will you question and leave?

It’s easy to question and leave. Why should you be the one to try again? You’ve already tried and everything you’ve tried has failed. You tried to fix this marriage. You tried to change your habits. You tried to overcome this struggle. You tried to move forward. You’ve tried to make things better. BUT IT DIDN’T WORK. So, why wouldn’t you just leave? Why wouldn’t you just give up? Why wouldn’t you just settle right here with the facts and try to make peace with things never changing?

Let me tell you why … because when Jesus is in your boat, everything changes!

Girl, just get Jesus in your boat. Jesus, I need you in this marriage. I need you in my family. I need you in my business. I need you in my money. I need you in my habits. I need you in my thoughts. I need you in my health. Get in my boat, Jesus!

Okay, so Jesus is in the boat. Now, will you listen to him when he prompts you to do something that makes no sense? Jesus didn’t magically fly fish into the boat for Simon. Simon had an active role in this miracle. And so will you!

Jesus says to Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

This is trust and try. My sister, will you just trust and try? If God is prompting you right now to launch out into the deep and try again, will you? Will you give it your all when your all seems to have never been enough in the past? Will you show up with your best when you feel even your best doesn’t measure up? Will you go all in where others haven’t been going all in? Trust and try!

No, it’s not going to make sense. No, you’re not going to always agree or feel like it. But when God prompts, practice trusting and trying. Jesus might just sink your boat with an overwhelming abundance!

When Simon and the other fishermen decided to trust and try, here’s what happened, “They caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.”

Simon was absolutely right to question fishing in the middle of the day in deep waters. Just as you’re absolutely right to question giving your situation another try. The answer was no before. The change didn’t last before. You couldn’t stick with it before. You failed before. You were just disappointed before. So, is that your answer to Jesus’ request? He says go deeper and try again … will you question and leave?

If you do, you will never know what miraculous change could have happened in your boat! I don’t know about you, but I can’t just walk away and wonder what Jesus was willing to do if I would have trusted and tried. I just gotta know!

Where is God prompting you to launch out deeper and try again? Will you trust and try? Dare to see what can happen!

God is not asking you to understand. He’s not asking you to have it all figured out. He’s not asking you to do this perfectly. He’s not asking you to make up for all the times you failed in the past. He’s asking you right here and right now, just trust him and try!

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