Beached

“Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me” (Psalm 42:7).

Jesus and I went to the beach this weekend. Oh, um, I guess I should say that my husband and children came, too. In fact, it seemed like Jesus kept showing up in the faces of my children and in the words of my husband. I just had to slow down to see it.

So I slowed down. I spent hours in the sand and the waves while my children shrieked and giggled and dug sand into mountains. I watched my two-year-old steal her sister’s sand. And I couldn’t stop laughing – because (although I can’t figure out exactly why) somehow I identified with her need to take the sand.

I slowed down and got really honest with my husband. I lay on the pastel bedspread surrounded by pillows holding a cup of Maxwell House coffee…and I became transparent and vulnerable and scared as I let him in to a deep part of my heart. I had a conversation with him that I have been too scared to voice for almost two years. Two years is a long time to let something go unspoken in a marriage – a lesson I need to remember.

I slowed down with God. I got up early with that coffee and sat with my Bible and prayer notebook and watched the whitecaps hit the shore. Waves applauding in worship. I breathed the Creator in and read His Word and took a walk by myself and let go of guilt by the water.

I am so grateful for this time. It feels like God opened up heaven for me this weekend and decided to pour out refreshment all over me. I feel refreshed, energized, and focused.

Ready for the week. Ready for my life.

Lord, thank you for the time away. Thank you for the life I have to come home to. Open my eyes, Father, that I can see you everywhere. Amen.