I just got back from a Women's Retreat with my church out on the beach and while there I had a lot of time to just be alone with God and ponder life while sitting on the shore. Some of my deepest thoughts come to me when I sit on the beach- my favorite place to be and what I consider my sanctuary. I couldn't stop thinking of Psalm 139:17-18 where it says "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand." And every time I looked down at the soft white sand I sifted my feet through I thought of how small each piece was and how many there were- and even beyond that unfathomable number are God's thoughts for us and according to Jeremiah 29:11 those thoughts are "of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." What a great and mighty God I serve, that He thinks of me more than the sum of the grains of sand and that His thoughts are so precious towards me!
I also got to looking out at the waves and how the blue green water was churned up by the tide, carried back and forth by each and every wave. Some waves bigger and rougher than others, while some remained small and calm. Life is a lot like we are a sail boat in the water, being tossed to and fro by the winds and storms of life. Sometimes the waves in life are small and calm, but then comes times of trouble and tempests. We may try to sail and go our own course, but when the wind is strong enough and the waves big enough our sails can split in two. Our efforts simply fail. We are guided by a much stronger force, no matter how much we may try to sail our "own boat". The One who has crafted the ocean, has charted out the course of the sea of our life. It's not always going to be smooth sailing, but He will always get you through. And sometimes you may not understand what is going on and why the storms in life seem to only be getting bigger. But we don't need to know the why, the how, or the when. God has not promised us that we would ever know that and sometimes we simply will just find out later when we see the bigger picture that God sees while right now we only see a glimpse. We simply need to know the who- that Christ, the One who can walk on the water and calm the storms of life, through it all is our closest friend.
I also got to looking out at the waves and how the blue green water was churned up by the tide, carried back and forth by each and every wave. Some waves bigger and rougher than others, while some remained small and calm. Life is a lot like we are a sail boat in the water, being tossed to and fro by the winds and storms of life. Sometimes the waves in life are small and calm, but then comes times of trouble and tempests. We may try to sail and go our own course, but when the wind is strong enough and the waves big enough our sails can split in two. Our efforts simply fail. We are guided by a much stronger force, no matter how much we may try to sail our "own boat". The One who has crafted the ocean, has charted out the course of the sea of our life. It's not always going to be smooth sailing, but He will always get you through. And sometimes you may not understand what is going on and why the storms in life seem to only be getting bigger. But we don't need to know the why, the how, or the when. God has not promised us that we would ever know that and sometimes we simply will just find out later when we see the bigger picture that God sees while right now we only see a glimpse. We simply need to know the who- that Christ, the One who can walk on the water and calm the storms of life, through it all is our closest friend.
Anne Marie,
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful way of thinking. This world needs more people to just take a minute and think about all the things the Lord had created. All of this world's beauty.
I hope to see more writings from you(:
Love you girl!
-Blairelizabeth