After 7 days and 6 nights in Honolulu, my home state welcomed me back in the most Texas-sized way fathomable- with a winter storm. Not just a winter storm but a HUGE storm that disconnected 4 million Texans from electricity, heat, clean water, and much more. But the last 7 days in Honolulu were filled with so much peace...and water. So to come back from being on an island surrounded by water to a state struggling with no water has generated my very own "Eureka" moment.
Water is essential to our survival. Water also changes things. I was caught in a flash food with my two older kiddos years ago. We were quickly swept up in a current and my car was overcome with water. In just seconds, we ended up in a ditch, upside down, and locked in my car. Strangers had to rescue us and literally saved our lives. Rushing water has always been scary for me every since. Until Honolulu...I sat at La'ie Point in Hawaii, a 30-40 ft cliff where tourists and locals often jump into the water below. I had no intention of jumping when I arrived but I did want to see someone jump. God had other plans. He sat me down on that cliff and allowed me to watch the water, His water, crash against the rock/peninsula below. I sat there for nearly an hour, mesmerized at how the water crashing against the rock had formed the very peninsula I was able to sit upon.
God allowed His water to crash upon that rock, that hardened land, and eroded and changed that hard, dense, inhabitable place, and created a peninsula. It was at that moment I recognized God's gift of water. See, God had been literally pouring His Spirit out into me and it was scary! I didn't feel ready. I was unprepared and not classically trained. I was having visions and dreams. I could feel myself nearly speaking in tongues and I would jolt myself back and refuse to operate in that gift. I was afraid of what God was eroding on the inside of me and who I would become. His Spirit was intimidating. His water was too much. I ran. Until He made me sit on that peninsula. He showed me that His water will in fact erode the rock of "Rose". But He also allowed me to see He will do this over time.
It is thought this particular peninsula was formed over 80,000 years ago. 80,000 years for God to use water to crash against sand dunes to form the beauty I was able to marvel at last week. This is His plan for us too. Over time, God will soften and chip away at the sand dunes and rock formations. He will chip away at those selfish ambitious desires, those unforgiving thoughts, those things that are not like Him. He will be mighty rushing water when needing and a calm current at other times. Over time, bringing us to the good expected end He has planned for our lives. So that others will be able to sit and marvel at His wonderful work in our lives. God's water is a powerful GIFT. Embrace the water in your life.
Google says there are 722 times water is mentioned in the Bible. That's more times than hope, love, prayer, worship, and faith. Doesn't take long for water to be mentioned. Genesis Chapter 1 kicks us off by informing us God took the void, dark and formless, and swept the winds across the face of waters when He created the heavens and earth. Christ turned water to wine and was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist in water. Revelations invite all who are thirsty to drink and take the waters of life as a gift. In Psalms, David reflects on God leading us beside the still waters and those waters being a source of refreshment for our souls. The human body is made up of 60-75% water. Water is essential to our physical and spiritual needs. And it's easy to forget the healing, restorative, powerful gift of water. It's also easy to confuse our need for water with hunger.
Our bodies and minds know we need something and we tend to think what we need is sustenance from food. But oftentimes we just need a glass of water. That's why dietitians recommend you drink a full glass of water prior to eating your meal. So what do you do when you need something spiritual? When your dreams and desires are screaming something is missing? Do you fill up on social media? Therapy sessions with a life coach? What "water" do you consume? My daughter is a volleyball player (an exceptional one if I may say so myself) and she carries around a gallon jug of water. It's labeled every few quarts to let her know she's on the right path to consuming her gallon a day. What are your indicators you are being filled up, with the right spiritual water, each day? What are the indicators that you are allowing the calming current and crashing waves of God's water to do its necessary eroding work to ensure your peninsula is a sight for the lost, blind, and hurt to see?
I love you! But God def loves you more!
Rose
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