Deep calls to deep

“Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all your breakers and waves have swept over me.” Psalm 42:7

When I was a 19-year-old newlywed in 1981, my husband and I went to Oahu, Hawaii for our honeymoon. We explored the island and went to a beach on the south side renowned for its isolation and waves. We bodysurfed.

The wild beauty and calming warmth of blue-green Pacific waters hid its deadly force.

Waves crashed so close to shore that when they crested and fell, it was with tremendous weight. Breakers smashed me into sand underwater. The undertow pulled me. I couldn’t get out, no matter how hard I tried. My nose bled, my legs went weak; I had scratches all over my arms and legs from rough pebbles.

“Your breakers and waves have swept over me.”

Sometimes life drags us out and smashes us to pieces. We despair with no way to escape.

After nearly 20 years, my marriage disintegrated. Raising teenagers by myself where none of us made very wise choices was tough. I belonged to a church that turned out to be questionable in leadership and teaching. I made personal decisions that weren’t sensible. After 49 years, a host of other bad decisions roosted like wild fowl in trees bordering my yard.

I read the 42nd Psalm surrounding verse 7: the author thirsted for God as a deer pants for water. Tears were his food day and night while he looked for God. He nearly gave up hope. He wondered why his soul was downcast and disturbed. Despite harassment and trouble he finally acknowledged that the answer to all his ponderings was to put his hope in God, his Saviour.

He sang...”I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God,” “I will remember you.” There is an acknowledgment that God directed His love by day and His song over him by night...a Messenger with good news.

I’m getting out of the undertow and struggling my way past crashing breakers with great joy.

God responded to my deep calling to His deep.

He rescued me.
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