Embracing the Waves of the Storm

I think it’s funny that whenever we are going through a hardship, all of these metaphors start coming up. People always talk about creation and how “you are just in a valley and God will bring you on top of the mountain” OR “God will move this mountain you just have to trust Him”. The analogies that always get me are the ones including the ocean or storms. When you see a mountain, you know that it is big and you know it will be a journey to get to the top one way or another. The ocean is something different. It is expansive and you don’t see the end destination until you are in the middle of the ocean. One moment, it can be sunny and calm but out of nowhere, the fog creeps in, you can’t see very far and the wind picks up. Suddenly there is a dark storm cloud above you and the waves are heavy. I’m not going to pretend that I know what it’s like to be on a boat in the middle of a storm but I am just talking about what I’ll talk about what it’s like on the beach. 

Recently I took a trip with a couple of friends to San Francisco. I had never been to the northern part of California before so I was stoked to go to the beach. I was expecting SoCal beaches, warm and lively, but that isn’t what we got. We got empty and foggy. I was grateful to be at the beach but the whole time I was reflecting on how fitting it was that our beach time was gray. It had been a couple of years since the last time I was at a beach and I was expecting my next beach time would be like the other times. I had this expectation. 

The past couple of months, or I guess I should say year, have been just that. I had this expectation to be married, have a job, have something figured out, be more content. Little by little God has been chipping at those areas and how I have been putting my identity in things outside of the Him. And it wasn’t pleasing to Him. I was expecting warm, clear beach days in my life but now I am in the fog, and a little chilly with no jacket because I wasn’t prepared. 

That is probably a little cheesy of a metaphor but I have been stuck on this ever since we were at the beach. Even though I was a little disappointed it wasn’t sunny, I still ran to the ocean and let my feet hit the waves. I let my feet sink into the sand as the water rushed back to the sea. It was cold but I still embraced it. It made me realize that I should be doing that in my own life, with the Lord. Just because the beach day of my life has been foggy, I should still be embracing the waves. I should be joyful about the chilly waves on my feet. 

The ocean has so much power yet brings so many relaxing qualities. It has the power to bring down ships and destroy the land, but the smell and sound promotes peace and healing. I know the power but I still embrace it and let the tide bring me closer. I let it bury my feet in the sand. Why don’t I do that with the Lord? I know that even though my life feels foggy and it isn’t what I expected, the power and will of the Lord is still at work. I know that but I don’t embrace it like I embrace the ocean. I hesitate, I question whether if it is safe. I doubt if I should even be outside because I don’t know what is behind the fog. 

The goodness of the Gospel is true in the sun and in the fog. The truth of the Gospel still remains even if the fog makes it harder to read. The faithfulness of the Father is even more true when my feet get buried in the sand during the storms. Every day I have to remind myself to believe that when the fog clears up, everything around me won’t seem as scary because I know I was protected in the fog I was in. That everything behind the fog was so much more beautiful than I remembered or could have ever expected. 

I am not sure if anything about this analogy makes any sense but it has helped me in this time of life transition and identity readjustment. As of right now in my life while typing this out, I don’t have a permanent place I call home quite yet. I am no longer in a relationship. I don’t have a stable full-time job.  I struggle a lot with fear and how to fully surrender them to the Lord. I have struggled a lot with even sharing those things because then it would make it even more real but I know Yahweh will use it to bring glory to Himself. 

Isaiah 43:2 

When you pass through the waters,

    I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

    they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

    you will not be burned;

    the flames will not set you ablaze.

I definitely got out of the routine of blogging but I have a lot of thoughts and want to get them out to hopefully share more about what God is doing.