Yesterday everyone went to the beach for the baptism of 4 of our squad-mates and to spend the day with the youth from the church we are working with. For a little while I just stood on the shore, alone, looking out at the amazingly beautiful ocean enjoying the sand beneath my feet and the cool refreshing water that would wash over them every few waves. It was a wonderful time worshiping and talking with God!
I looked out and saw this huge wave about to crash and got excited…i knew for sure that it was going to flood my feet. It was going to feel so so good. It crashed and rolled quickly up the shore toward me. It stopped short of my feet by less than an inch. *sigh
Another wave came and I knew that it was going to be short again. I stepped into it. I was ready to enjoy that feeling again. It was not nearly as satisfying as the ones that just came to me.
So, there I stood…waiting. All of a sudden a wave rolled in and came rushing up the sand toward me. It washed over my feet and up my legs. It was the deepest that had come in yet. I closed my eyes, smiled, and enjoyed that moment. The feeling of warm sun shining on my face, a gentle breeze blowing, and cool waves washing over my feet is just the best feeling! Its one of those feelings that an explanation doesn’t do justice. It has to be experienced. I hope you all have or will!
I asked God what I could learn from these waves (there are soooo many spiritual lessons that can be learned from the ocean. Its incredible!) Before I even finished asking he answered.
The waves represented dreams and desires. There are those “big waves” that just look so good and you know that they will be so satisfying and you think that they are headed your way, but you never get them…because those are not the things that God has intended for you. Then there are those desires that we have that we know aren’t meant for us but we want them so badly that we step into them. It may feel good, but they are not God’s best for us, and because they are not what God has planned specifically for us, they will never be fully satisfying. Then, of course, there are those “waves” (jobs, relationships, ministries, living situations, etc.) that come and they are so completely satisfying and we know completely without a doubt that we are supposed to be in them and that they are intended for us.
God has created us, individually, with specific purposes. And they are beyond our wildest dreams. We need to be still, standing on the shore, trusting that God is who he says he is and that he fulfills his promises to us. He conforms our desires to his (which are truly better than what ours are without him) and fulfills them in our lives. And it is so so satisfying because we know that we are walking in the will of the Lord and doing what we were created for. This is a lesson that God has been working on in me all month and it’s so great to now have this experience and picture as a reminder!
