Learning to rest between the waves 🌊🌊
- Shonecia Griffin
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 22 hours ago
Hi Darling,
I know it is a hard season. Being bedridden sounds like the best thing to do. But as you walk there will be times that you are struggling to get through the waves. The sand is all mushy and if you stay there for too long you will have to try with everything to pull your feet out and keep going. If not you will start to sink in the wet sand. But the further you walk the more you will see. Dolphins, turtles, the best seashells, stingrays, and manatees. They are all there but you have to keep going.
This brings me to two scriptures:
“In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through. He asked me, “Have you been watching, son of man?” Then he led me back along the riverbank. When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river. Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows.”
Ezekiel 47:1-9 NLT
“At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!” When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful. When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” “Oh no, my Lord!” Lot begged. “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die. See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.” “All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village. But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”) Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon. Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.”
Genesis 19:15-26 NLT
You see I don't add this randomly. One is about how Ezekiel went deeper into water. This shows the progression of spiritual life:
Ankles - You've tasted God
Knees - You've begun to walk with Him
Waist - He's involved in your strength and direction
Swimming - You are fully surrendered, fully carried by God
You cannot control a river when you're swimming in it - you trust it to carry you. This is a picture of total surrender to God's Spirit. When the waves are hitting hard it's easy to run to what you're comfortable with or an easy comfort. Like I am not going to lie sometimes instead of going to the feet of Jesus I listen to Justin Bieber because I feel a sort of comfort. But that's not what I ought to do, I should go deeper into the word of God. I should go deeper into prayer. And the deeper you go the more those aggressive waves start to calm. Just as Jesus told the storm to be still we have that same power.
Now why exactly did I add Lot's wife? To show you what happens when you don't keep going. You probably won't turn into salt lol but those waves will drown you until you can't even recognize yourself. Trust me it's happen to me. Where I had imposter syndrome and told everyone I didn't want to continue to be a Christian. All because I let the devil into my head with all of his lies. And it was only getting progressively worst because I was getting closer to my freedom, closer to my promised land. He hates us and doesn't want to see us free. He wants to see us drown not swim. But in the end we know that Jesus has already set us free so petty waves should never be a problem. Because we have authority given to us by Christ Jesus so we can say to any wave, tornado, or hurricane to be still and it will.
So I ask you in this season will you drown or swim?
With Love,
Neci