The Ocean's Voice

The ocean speaks to me.

It whispers to me to come and dip my toes in, letting the waves cover my feet with sand. It invites me to swim in its dark, deep, blue waters. It insists that I fix my eyes upon the awesomeness of its powerful waves. I can’t look away.

Ever since I was a young girl, as soon as I got to the beach I was drawn like a magnet towards the ocean, my eyes holding fast to the unending waves. They scared me, and yet enthralled me.

When I was a teenager, I spent a week learning to surf…

- the rest of the story -

…in a swimming pool. The week concluded with one day in the ocean. We were taken to a cove where the waves finished their journey by crashing over large boulders. I gathered my courage, grabbed a board and began paddling out. It was my first time in the deeper waters of the ocean.

After several tries, I finally caught my first wave, but I couldn’t get to my feet. The wave was so powerful, jetting me towards those boulders as I rode the board on my knees. I jumped off and turned my board, but wave after wave washed over me as I tried to work my way back out.

Sadly, that was the only wave I caught that day. It was so scary, I paddled back, and basked in the sun on the beach for the rest of the day. Fear got the best of me.

The trials we go through in life often feel the same as jetting towards those boulders. We’d rather bask in the sun. Does the thought of going through a trial scare you?

Interestingly, Paul, the writer of the book of Romans in the Bible, addresses this issue of trials when he says, “ We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:3-5 NLT

As I have dealt with illness and major losses for more than 20 years, I have said to my husband, more than once, “I don’t want to do this any more.” It’s not a wish for death, but an emotional statement of how overwhelmed and scared I am. The health crisis’ just seem to keep rolling in wave after wave after wave.

Just like my day of surfing and those looming boulders and powerful waves, problems in life can leave us filled with worry and fear. We need to develop endurance to withstand the forceful waves of trials.

I have no doubt I would have pushed myself to go back to that cove and try again and again if I had had daily access to the beach back in my youth, and I would have eventually succeeded. Those daily attempts to surf would have led to endurance, and I’m sure I would have eventually developed confidence and stamina and been able to fight and win against the waves.

Because we are dearly loved by God, we can develop endurance through the trials of life, whether it’s loss and grief, physical ailments, emotional pain, mental illness and more. We develop confidence and stamina when we begin to see that the difficulties of life are overshadowed by God’s great love for us. With this confidence we become stronger, withstanding larger and larger waves.

Recently, as a birthday gift, my husband took me on a replica Hawaiian sailing canoe out of Kona, reflected in this painting “Ocean’s Calling.” I was surprised to find that when the ocean is so deep you can’t touch the bottom or even see it, swimming has a really different feel. It’s like you become one with the ocean.

I found that it’s easy to stay afloat because of the buoyancy of salt water, and yet it was quite hard to swim against the current. It took a lot longer and a lot more work to get back to the canoe than it did to move away from the canoe. But what impressed me the most were the waves. They weren’t yet formed or crashing, but instead, were glassy smooth and easily lifted me up high in their arms. Then in an instant, I was softly let down below the horizon line, before the next wave lifted me up again. On and on this went, the ocean holding me in its arms, wrapping me with gentleness and strength and never letting go in the highs or the lows. That’s exactly what God does for us. I didn’t want it to end. In fact I stayed out in the ocean longer than anyone else on the tour.

God’s love holds us through the ups and downs as we develop endurance in the midst of trials, and as we endure we are changed. We become stronger in character, trusting more in God’s love than in our own ability to change our circumstances. We think less about ourselves and more about God’s love and showing it to others.

Every difficulty we make it through is like another win, and the more wins we have, the more our character strengthens. And the more our character grows, the more hope we have. Not hope for less trouble, or a solution for our trouble, but hope for success in the face of trials!

And what is success? In my light-hearted analogy, success is riding a wave standing up, and never getting smashed upon the boulders. But in real life? Success is getting to and enjoying eternity where our loving God wipes every tear from our eyes. (Revelation 21:4 says “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”) What a glorious experience that will be.

There was a time in my life where everything was crashing in at once. I sat alone in the woods, with misty eyes. A tear dropped down my cheek. Just then, a friend walked past. He didn’t say a word, but he reached for my face and wiped that tear away. Then he walked on leaving me alone. But that one small action, with no words attached, touched me so deeply. I knew I was cared about, and a spark of hope began to flicker in my heart.

Can you imagine? All those trials you are facing today, and Jesus, walking up and wiping away your tears?!!

I can’t help relating these ocean experiences to Paul’s words. The trials of life can produce endurance because God’s loving arms hold us through the ups and the downs of life. Endurance produces character helping us to push on in the midst of them. Character gives us hope of our end reward, the joy of having Jesus wipe away all the tears we have cried in the midst of these trials.

I think now, I have figured out why I love the ocean so much! It’s a constant visual to me of God - His strength, His power, and His loving embrace. It fills me with great hope of an eternity where Jesus wipes the tears from my eyes, and the trials are over.

This “hope of salvation” Paul speaks of, is all based on faith in Jesus. His death on the cross washed away all our sins so that we could have this eternal and loving relationship with God. There’s that water theme again - washed away.

You may be thinking, “But how do I start? I’m in those powerful waves that just keep coming. What do I do?”

• Put your faith in Jesus. If you never have, but you want this hope we’ve talked about today, it’s easy! Just talk to him! Tell him you trust him and you want hope. Then, thank him for washing away your sins, and for being with you through the trials you face.
• Let someone know. Tell the friend who lovingly sent this story about your decision today, or a church nearby your home, or you can even message me. This is not a requirement to be a recipient of hope from God, but it sure will help cement the truth in your heart that you, too, have this great hope of salvation that is demonstrated by the ocean.

Then...

• Begin praying for endurance. For many years now, when someone asks me how they can pray for me I have said “Please pray that I have patient endurance.” This phrase is one I have taken from Hebrews 10:36. I pray this for myself as well.
• Hold tight to the truth. Write out the verses I’ve shared here, and any others that remind you of the truth of God’s strong, powerful, loving presence. And you can even ask a loved one or close friend to remind you of them when you begin to lose focus on your true hope.

If you’re facing difficulties today, I pray this artwork “Ocean's Calling” and this story will aid you in developing endurance and that you begin to taste this hope of salvation. And whether you are or you aren’t facing trials right now, I hope you will use this story and these verses to encourage someone near you that is facing some kind of difficult circumstance.