When You're Feeling Shipwrecked

I recently had the opportunity for some family getaway time and respite along the east coast in the state of Maryland. It was a beautiful and scenic drive from Ohio and once we arrived, I spend a lot of time sitting on the beach while my daughter played in the sand and collected seashells.

Removed from the distraction and grind of daily life back home, I also walked the shoreline and found some intimate prayer time. I reflected on this current season of life, a season of fractured relationships, and how the process of healing often works in for me.

Standing in front of the vast, rolling waves of the ocean, I am reminded of how great God is and how small I am in comparison. It is strangely comforting to feel so small and to surrender my trust to Him. I realize my healing and the ocean are sort of intertwined.

Initially, the process of healing feels like I am adrift in the deep end of the ocean, shipwrecked by life and the brokenness it sometimes brings. I feel surrounded by a vast expanse of complicated human emotions, much larger than me, and only fully known and understood by God himself. It is during those times, when the pain is so raw and deep, that I know it is nothing other than His grace that is carrying me back to the shoreline, back to wholeness and new perspective again.

From that adrift place, I can see the shore. I can see the invitation of beauty still happening all around me. Life continues to go on even when it feels as though it should stop. I can remember how life felt before deep pain entered my story, but at that present moment it’s hard to imagine normalcy or the absence of pain again.

Then, after a lit