Renewal of the soul from the ocean

We have return from the beach. My suitcase is pulled out with the clothes slowly going in for preparation for the return journey. 

During the past four days we have eaten very well, swam a lot, sang, talked, relaxed, slept and more of each of those. We had a joke going that when away we only eat, swim and sleep. It felt like that some days. Yet it was an amazing time away. 

One afternoon I went down to the beach and sat there looking out into the vast ocean before me. The song lyrics came to mind… 

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior. 

The ocean is so unpredictable, the way the waves never come in the same way, the way it changes so quickly with the tide and the wind. The depth and its expanse are unimaginable, the way you can’t see down to the sea floor or see its end beyond the horizon. The ocean has moods that change with its colour. Leaving me to ponder how the ocean can be a metaphor for so many things, yet for me its the Lord, its the gift of the spirit all wrapped together. 

The past six months have been full of challenges, uncertainty mixed with certain in the same breath. It is in the past month or even one might say before this, that the familiar voice of the Lord whispering a deep note in my soul, the sound of it familiar and clear. He recounts the story He’s been writing in my life and reminds me that He can be trusted. He turns my face towards Himself and reports the words He has said before. Keep going, Launch into the deep. They are the same words I’ve heard before, yet somehow they mean something again. Somehow hearing them fills me with assurance, and I am no longer thrashing in the waves, my feet no longer frantic for sand to stand upon. Instead, I am still. I am once more anchored by His presence with me, and all of me wants only Him because He is my rock. 

Sitting on the beach watching, waiting with a quiet soul, as the waves swayed back and forth on the shore, hushing my soul, and it was as though the ocean was singing His truth to me - Come in deeper and know freedom, for I am with you.