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“The call of God is like the call of the sea,
no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him.”
Oswald Chambers
On the sand, alone but for an occasional beach walker, I could feel Jesus sitting next to me. Praying a stilted prayer through my tears, I told Him I trusted Him.
I knew His Word could be believed. At a time in my life when there wasn’t much I knew for sure, this I clung to.
God was making good on His promises to me, in His time. I understood it was taking a while to gather the pieces and place them just so, and that when He did, He would move mighty and in a way I could see. Of that I had no doubt.
His promises were big and my requests were too. My faith, a match for both.
I laid it out there for Him. My heart knew that if I could pull back the curtain into the unseen, I’d be amazed at all He was doing. His dreams for me were being built, but as Hebrews 12:11-13 describes, my arms were getting feeble and my knees, weak.
I asked Him for His promise of restoration, His promise of Joel 2:25, to begin that very day. I didn’t think I had even one more day in me.
It was only hours later I felt my life collapse.
And that’s when I knew for a fact He’d heard. I could almost see with my eyes His actual Hand in it. This was no coincidence.
I knew, positively knew, my prayers made it to the throne room.
“May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.”
Psalm 141:2 NIV
I’d never felt such conflicting emotions.
Awe that the God of the universe had been there. I didn’t imagine His presence. I knew for certain He lives and walks with us. Sits on the beach with us.
What do you do with that? How can anything ever look the same?
And yet, His blessings were coming through gifts that didn’t seem too celebratory.
I was faced with this question, how do you celebrate the joy of His gift when it is washed in grief? (<==== Click to tweet)
I answered the only way I knew.
Praise.
He showed me how it was possible to praise Him through it all. I praised Him from the floor of my closet, in tears, but also in song that came from a depth I didn’t know was in me.
It is when we praise God, we realize the nature of the sea is in us. The thunder of the waves are heard and we know it is Him who stirs the water and calms it again.
It was through prayer and praise that I was able to hear it. It was through faith I was able to see it.
I recall that day, and realize, indeed, I had the nature of the sea in me all along.
Have you ever had to praise through the pain? Click here to share your story in the comments.
Shared by: Christine Wright
Photo Credit: Edgar Barany via Compfight cc
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shelly says
One week ago my 15 year marriage to an abusive husband legally ended in divorce. I do not recall a time in my adult life being in so much pain, conflict, turmoil, and deep sadness. Talk about God working in a manner washed in grief. I know the divorce needed to happen and that God did not want me in that marriage. Now I pray for the next phase of my life to play out according to God’s plan for me and my 2 children.
I call this phase of my life “Shimmering Hope Through Sadness” but I know it will eventually be “Shining Glory Through Faith.”
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Christine Wright says
Oh, Shelly, I am praying for you and your children. Lord, the God of hope, please fill Shelly and her children with all joy and peace as they trust in You, so that they may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) “Shimmering Hope Through Sadness”…what beautiful words.
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Toni C. says
Oh Shelly I’ve been there sister and I’m praying for you. It took me 31 years to get to that place of freedom, but can I tell you, so many people told me how I’d blossomed once the hand of abuse was lifted. And I’ll tell you something else – I never saw God’s hand of provision so clearly. He took (and is still taking) those difficult times and showered me with love and grace, peace and mercy. He surrounded me with people who lift me up, encourage and support me. It has not always been easy, but I have so many miraculous stories to tell many seem almost unbelievable. Could I encourage you to read one of them? For sure it was praise through the pain! http://lakesidelessons.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-checklist.html
Toni
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Ashley Fields says
Thank you Christine! I have been through times of deep grief and with some of them, I still to this day do not fully not know what caused the grief. The two times that I can think of that I have experienced deep, lingering anxiety or sadness but praised God through it all were when my maternal grandmother passed away and my current situation.
Nanny passed away in October of 2010. She was the rock in our family; very much the matriarch. I sensed that her time was near months before she passed and as such, I tried to prepare myself as best as I could but you cannot fully prepare yourself for the death of someone so close. It is quite literally impossible. Her death brought about several waves of emotion. Deep, heart-wrenching grief obviously, at losing someone so close who helped to raise me but there was also a sense of joy that she was no longer weary, no longer in pain, and best of all, she was in heaven with Jesus and the family members she so dearly missed. She wanted to see me graduate from college and she did; I graduated the June before she passed. That made me happy as well.
Currently my family and I find ourselves in a financial situation we cannot control until my dad is able to find a job. In a job market that favors the young and healthy, finding a job for a 60+ year old man with a chronic heart condition is not easy but I know that God has something. I can sense it I just can’t sense when it will happen. We are not at rock bottom yet but honestly, we may have to get there before things start looking up (at that point, what choice do they have?). I don’t relish that thought at all but I also understand that sometimes, hitting rock bottom is the only way things begin to move forward again. You add to that the fact that I am about as confused about where my education is supposed to go as confused can be and, by the world’s standards, I should be face down in the dirt cursing God. I’m not though. Through all of this, I wake up almost every morning with a song of praise running through my mind. I don’t put it there so I have to think that the One who holds me in the palm of His scarred hand must be speaking these songs into my consciousness to remind me of His presence, His promises and His faithful love. Between the songs and the hearts He shows me throughout my day to remind me of His love for me, what choice do I have but to praise Him?
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Christine Wright says
Yes, Ashley!! I hear you. Oh, how your words ring so true to much of my own story – I remember the very day I felt like everything had been “taken”. There was not one thing left that the enemy had not messed with, and I was overcome with the need to praise God. Simply because He was still good! He was still in control and still the God I could trust with everything and still the God Who Sees. I think sometimes rock bottom is a blessing, because it’s there we are most open to His direction. (But YUCK! Who wants to be there??)
And what a blessing that God revealed what was coming (with your dad), so you had time to prepare, somewhat…not that it’s ever easy, of course. OH, how He loves us!
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Lisa says
Christine~I could see you seated on the sand and picture Jesus right next to you; He offered His comforting Presence as I cried out to Him during deep grief after my father’s suicide. So many questions unanswered but the one constant was His Presence. Learning to look to Him in those days and since has been the most challenging and yet filling time of my life. Thank you for your beautiful post.
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Christine Wright says
Lisa, it’s amazing how the most challenging times can also be the most filling times. God is so good. Thank you for your kind words, friend.
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Dolly@Soulstops says
Christine,
What a powerful testimony of God’s faithfulness to you …and to answer your question, I have praised in the midst of pain…and may I confess, I always am thankful to look back and see His faithfulness even when at the time, I couldn’t see it right away…hugs to you, my friend 🙂
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Christine Wright says
Yes, sometimes it takes looking in retrospect to see it – but always He is there!! 🙂 Thanks for your comment, Dolly! 🙂
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Kristin Waters says
Oh how your post resonates with me, Christine! It immediately made me sing lyrics in my head – “I Will Praise You in the Storm” by Casting Crowns and “Blessings” by Laura Story. And I can really see the imagery in the “call of the sea.” The sea is beautiful, vast and unpredictable – when it’s calm, we all love getting in it, but when it’s rough, we want out. But, when it’s rough, it stirs up the bottom, and then we can find pretty and unusual shells on the shoreline!
On multiple occasions, I had ( and have) found myself asking God, “WHY?!?!?” and it seemed (seems) that He says, ” just keep leaning on Me, child, the good will come, you will see.” And so I keep leaning, as best I can, and fighting the perceived control in which the Enemy tells me I have on a daily basis… I”ll keep looking for the shells if you will…
beautiful words you shared today…
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Christine Wright says
You are right, Kristin! The most beautiful shells I ever found was one evening as a hurricane was about to blow in! It was scary and thrilling to walk the beach that evening. I found so many HUGE shells…I had to make my shirt into a sling in the front to carry them and then finally had to stop picking them up! No more room!
I’ve never seen anything like it. Looking back it almost seems like a dream. Keep going, Kristin – God will bring you some beautiful treasures! 🙂
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Beth (@SimplyBeth3) says
This is truly beautiful! A beautiful testimony of God’s love for us. I’m so glad I didn’t miss reading this.
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Christine Wright says
Thank you, Beth. I’m grateful for your comment.
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Toni C. says
Only a believer could write such a thing as this “It was only hours later I felt my life collapse. And that’s when I knew for a fact He’d heard. I could almost see with my eyes His actual Hand in it. This was no coincidence.” I’m sure to the world that would sound like craziness…your life collapsed and that was proof he’d heard? But we are so blessed, because we know that life and renewal and growth are birthed from pain and even death. The death of a dream, the death of a job, or marriage, or so many other things we love and hold on to.
Dear Christine, I think this is one of your most powerful posts to date. The imagery is so powerful and potent, it touches so many where they have been or are living now. We feel the pain, but we hear the praise and it wells up within us as well. Thank you for writing this!
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Christine Wright says
Thank you, Toni. Your words blessed me more than I can say.
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Karen wondercheck says
This really resonates with me. You put it to words is beautifully. I find myself 20 years into a marriage that feels hopeless. Tomorrow is our 20 year anniversary. Not sure if we will even acknowledge it. It feels like a nightmare and yet I know God is with me in this. He is wanting to heal some really deep hurts in me, some very deeply rooted shame. He is wanting me to once and for all establish my worth in HIM. To not let anyone else be a barometer of my worth and value. He wants me to stand firm on His promises and to know, really know my intrinsic value. I’m not there yet. I have moments where I get it and have joy, so sure in His love for me and I have more moments where I stay in the lie that the enemy of my soul wants to me to stay, that I am defective and not worth valuing. It’s more comfortable in the lie as hard as that is to acknowledge. It has taken so much energy to stand in the NO CONDEMNATION statement of absolute truth! But I guess that just shows the war of warfare, that it is indeed a battle, but He has won. I’m thankful for things like this email to ground myself in truth because I know that is the key, 24/7 immersing myself in truth. Through music, like the song, “Oceans”, “What I Know”, etc, and through His Word, these blogs, love how God can use social media for good. I’m a home schooling mom so I so appreciate this way of being “social”. Thanks for reminding me this morning that we serve a God who hears and responds in His loving kindness as only He can.
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Lisa says
Oh Karen! I truly recognize all that you have written; so much of what you shared has been my path as well. I just had to stop and take a minute to tell you Freedom is at hand! You have every spiritual blessing at hand. You have the power of the Creator of the Universe dwelling within you. You do not war with the weapons of this world but your weapons have divine power to destroy the strongholds that the enemy has in your mind and heart. You are already free in Christ but because of the whispering lies that are familiar and habit forming you listen to them and forget what Truth you can choose to combat the lies. We must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. There are many sisters who fight this same battle and some are very good at sharing God’s Truth with the rest of us. Renee Swope, Holley Gerth, Beth Moore and so many more all write great encouragement to you. Right where you are. You are loved and accepted. You are an overcomer. I will pray that like me you will be able to look back and tell of the glorious redemptive work that God wrought in your life, your marriage and in your family through your radical obedience to God and His Word.
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Karen wondercheck says
Thank you Lisa. I appreciate your encouragement. It’s a minute by minute battle!
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Martha says
Wow, this gives me HOPE that someday, somehow, God will make a message of all my mess. thanks.
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Curtis Delk Rose says
I read the quote shown in the photo above a few months ago in the home of a friend; but there was no credit for the author with it. It finally dawned on me to look on the internet, and here it is! Thank You so much for using Your “Calling” to share it with me! This “Call” is so important to me, and i will be using it as an illustration to share with others, i hope. i have long believed that the return of the Salmon to the place of its birth, to lay its eggs, is of a similar nature; and the fact that the ‘contents’ of a Caterpillar, are just the same as the ‘contents’ of a Butterfly, but there is a serious ‘wait’ in between one and the other. i just remembered that i have a poem (that i wrote many years ago) sort of about this thought, perhaps You will enjoy:
New Beginnings
crawling,
crawling, crawling, crawling
crawling, grumbling
crawling, bumbling
crawling, fumbling
crawling, stumbling
crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling…
“Chlorophyll, Chlorophyll !
Yuck! Yuck! Yuck !
How about a lamb-chop and a little Cold Duck?
Chlorophyll, Chlorophyll
ugly green crud
darn tired of it;
rather eat mud!”
crawling
crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling
crawling, raining
crawling, straining
crawling, blaming
crawling, complaining
crawling, crawling, crawling, crawling…
Are you getting the idea, People?
Being a caterpillar
is tough enough
but being a caterpillar with
a low life mind
is almost as bad as being a snake!
But not quite
Snakes have no Future…
Then
within his crawling world
during a rare moment of silence
came a whisper …
As soft as it were
from a settling Seraphim
during a pause in Worship
“…New Beginnings…”
The here-reality machine
clattered into gear again
and the silence was gone
“New Beginnings” said the caterpillar,
“i like the sound of that.”
He began to crawl a little faster
then stopped
and put a rakey tilt
to his caterpillar hat
While musing
“New Beginnings…”
he smiled a little caterpillar smile
“hmmmm”, he sighed contentedly
a New Beginnings style
“New Beginnings…
there’s something to that…”
thought the caterpillar
“though i’m not quite sure
what it might be.”
But he felt so soft and warm inside
he sensed no doubt or fear
just a happy hint
of something light and free
“hummmm …New Beginnings…”
he stretched and rolled over
to scratch his back on
a crusted clump of sand
“My! Doesn’t that feel good!”
He squirmed another time or two
then laughed out loud for the very first time
as he recalled
the sweetness of
the Early Morning Dew…
He began to say “Excuse me”
and “Please” and “Thank You” too
and to doff his cap to Lady Bugs
and to notice that they “flew”
“Yes” he thought, “Now that’s a sight !
Flying is such a splendid way to go !”
When he first saw a Cotton-Cloud
he was sure it had New Beginnings glow
His crawling had a new dimension now
he began to kind of ‘feel’ his way along,
He dreamed up the
‘Inchworm Itch’ and
the ‘Sidewinder Slip’
and he sprinkled them with song.
Yes, he still munched the Chlorophyll
but he paid the taste no mind
Instead of living to waste and complain
Well
he just lived a different kind
of Life
a New Beginnings kind
He didn’t really know just why
or exactly what or how
but he knew “When”
Yes, he KNEW “When”
and he was much happier with his
“NOW”
That New Beginnings whisper
that little tiny seed
dropped somehow Word-like down within.
He didn’t mind not knowing
the what or why or how
because he still remembered “When” . . . .
Curtis Delk Rose
(1993)
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