Morgan Marshall

Once I tried to go paddleboarding in the ocean with a cast on my arm. I’m pretty active and enjoy challenges, so I thought this would be fun! I put the waterfree cast protector on my arm, attached the paddleboard to my ankle, and headed to the shore. I was ready to get out in the ocean and prove to all the people on the beach that I had a secret talent.

I made two mistakes that day. First, I realized I have never actually paddle boarded in the ocean, only calm lakes were you basically just sit on a board and float around. Second, I forgot my paddle.

As I took some steps into the salty and violent waters, I realized that the hardest part was going to be getting past the breaking point of the waves. I made several attempts at getting over the waves with my board and cast. By now there was a small group of people on the beach watching the crazy girl with only one swimming arm in the ocean.

The waves continued to knock me down. I remember tumbling under the water several times and losing my board. And then I would get too close to the beach and my board would get stuck in the sand. But the waves never quit. They continued to dramatically push me over, causing me to lose my already very flimsy balance.

Eventually I made it past the breaking point. It was at this moment I realized that my paddle was still on the shore. So now I was in the middle of the ocean, without a paddle, trying to maintain balance on a board, and unable to really swim since I only had one good arm.

If you’ve ever had an experience like this or if you’ve simply been to the beach and watched the waves come in relentlessly, you know that it’s wave after wave after wave. The ocean is relentless. It doesn’t care if you are a child or a bad swimmer or a crazy girl with a cast on her arm. The waves will not stop coming.

And life is often like the ocean: it doesn’t relent, it doesn’t slow down, and it just keeps coming. I’m sure you have felt this in your own life, like I have in mine. Those seasons, or months, or years, where it just feels like the world is against you and nothing is going to slow it down. Those seasons can feel extremely defeating and exhausting. It feels like if you could just have a moment to catch your breath, you would be able to stand again and take a step, even if it’s only a small one.

If this is where you find yourself right now, I want you to hear this: God sees you, He keeps you, and He knows you. He is not unaware of what you are experiencing and He deeply cares for you. You are seen. You are kept. You are loved. It may not feel like you are seen, kept, or loved, but you are. For me, it takes hearing those words from someone else for me to truly believe them. So this is me telling you what is true: God is there.

I want to close by sharing one of my favorite little stories from a children’s book called, “Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing” by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago (who also wrote and illustrated “The Jesus Storybook Bible”).

What words does God want you to treasure in the deepest part of you?

“Be good?” “Do it better?” “Try harder?” Are those the words God wrote in the Bible for us, to rescue and free us?

No. Those words only show us what we can’t do.

The words God wants us to remember are just three small ones: “I love you.”

They are the words that stop the Terrible Lie that Satan whispered to Eve in the garden: “God doesn’t love you!” They are the words that heal the poison in our hearts that stops us from trusting God.

They are the words that Jesus came to tell us with his whole life.

They are the words he died to prove.

What words will you treasure today?

“Three Small Words” (Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing) by Sally Lloyd-Jones & Jago

I pray this encouraged your heart today if you are in a season of relentless life. And if you are not, I pray you will remember these truths when life hits you with wave after wave. He sees you, friend.

Oh, and I eventually made it back to the shore after a kind man swam out to me with my paddle, but I don’t intend on repeating that experience again. 🙂