Any lifeguard will tell you: You can’t save anyone as long as they’re trying to save themselves. If you try, that person will just pull you down, too. So you have to tread water until they finally give up, and then it’s easy. You just put a hand over their shoulder, and you swim back to shore.

It’s the same with our relationship with God. When we try to fight through life’s troubles on our own, we sink. Instead, God wants us to stop fighting and trust him to do the work.