Who will Make it

I have always been a helper. I started working at 14 years old bagging groceries and swabbing the deck. I was a nurse's assistant in high school at a nursing home. I loved my patients. I had a patient tell me one time that all she had to look forward to was seeing me daily. I have been involved in the helping field since I was 18 years old. In college, we we went to Central America for a missionary trip, I have taught young children for 15 years in a church setting and I have worked with adults that have lost everything. I know that I couldn't possibly have all the answers for all the loss that I have encountered in these peoples lives, but I am sure God knows how best to be God. Faith is not that easy for me. Especially when I see the hurting regularly. At times, I wonder about these individuals, and I'll think, God, will that one make it? Alas, I always hold out hope that they will and yes- I have doubted.
One afternoon, I took my family to get out of the house and get some fresh Las Vegas air. It is so warm here up until November so we were looking for something other than desert scenery. We went to a plant nursery. It was outdoors, but there were beautiful flowers, birds and plants everywhere. My mind was on a gal that I was mentoring at the time. She had lived a lifetime of losing. She had lost her own children, her health and thank goodness she had stopped the madness before she lost her soul. Still, I wondered how long she would go on being so courageous to change her life? I knew I could be there for a time, to hold her hands through it, but I would not be there on the hard days when she would be dragged down by life on planet earth. This is a dry and weary land where there is no water.
As I was thinking, there was a little pond with a waterfall and goldfish in it. In the center of it there was a rock with sunbathing turtles on it. I stopped and noticed that there were many turtles swimming around the deck that just could not drag their heavy shells up on the deck. They would strain their little turtle necks but their shells would just drag them back down to perpetual swimming with no rest.
I thought, "God, show me though one of the turtles if my friend will make it through this mess." I watched for a long while and became antsy longing to see a landing. Nothing but labor and swimming occurred. I could not take it any longer and I left it to God to get the other turtles up for rest. Of course I did not leave it at that. I wanted to tell the management to lower the platform so that those poor little turtles could get up one in life. It is really no that easy for me to let things go and trust God. I walked around a while more and I ended back at the pond watching turtles heave to get to brighter days. I know I am one of those turtles resting, after many a long swims, failures and frantic flailing. In that moment, another turtle swam around the turtle trying desperately to get out of the water. He practically swam underneath the turtle and it heaped the turtle onto the deck. I knew God was answering me. We cannot get out of the murk without support. I did not know if that turtle was a helper or if he haphazardly knocked his buddy up on the sunning deck - but he got up!
It has been well over a year since I sat around and watched turtles in a daze at the plant nursery. My dear friend did graduate from a year long program, drug free and she found a friend. Her life has not been suntans and sleep all the day long, but she knows when she feels like she ain't gonna make it, there are others that can give her a little shove if she really wants to stop the struggle.