{when oceans rise}

wednesday we went to the ocean. Leah, Amy, Anna, Emily, and I. 

endless sea met endless sky as the laughter of friends, old and new, floated across the waves. 

we stood in the shallows, close enough to shore to touch the ocean floor, and when the swells came, if the wave did not break, you would jump and the momentum carried you over without taking you under. 

but while the momentum carried you over, it also moved you backwards, closer to shore.

and at one moment during our time there, i caught up with Amy in time to hear her cheerfully challenge the two standing by her to a game of 'stand straight and don't move your feet when the waves come!'

i flung back, laughing, unthinking, 'that's impossible! you'd need an anchor!' 

she swung around and smiled at me. 'mhmm. it's hard because it sucks you in and pulls you back'

so for the next few minutes we tried, unsuccessfully, to stand our ground despite the buffet of the ocean, eventually giving up and giving in to the push and pull of the water which surrounded us.

and as i mused on the unpredictability of the ocean, and how hard it was not to move when the swells were so strong, i was suddenly reminded of a line from a song. 

'we have this hope as an anchor for our souls. our God will stand unshakeable'. 

my eyes widened as realization struck. 

see, it is impossible to stand up straight, without moving, in the middle of the waves. but. we have this hope as an anchor for our souls, that God will stand unshakeable. 

we, in ourselves, cannot help but move when life's waves buffet us. when trouble and fear and failure and pain and sorrow roll like billows over the place where we endeavor to stand. 

it is hard enough to stand straight, even when there are no waves! 

but add the waves, and it is impossible.

you would need an anchor. something to grab hold of, something which cannot move and will not shift when the waves swing your way. 

but what is our anchor? 

Hebrews 6 and i have the answer. 

'it is impossible for God to lie...we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain'. 

God will not...God cannot lie. God cannot change. He is steadfast, He will never waver. He is faithful. He is our refuge, He is unshakeable. 

that is our hope. that is what anchors us when the waves come crashing down. 

because our God is unshakeable, we need not be greatly shaken. 

so when the waves come 'to attack a man, to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence', we have an unshakeable stronghold which will always stand.

and if we remember, and run to Him, we will not be shaken. 

Because He is not shaken, we do not need to be shaken.

we can plant our feet; firmly anchored in the hope we have in Him - the hope that He is strong, that He will hold us - and because of that hope, we will not be shaken when the wind and waves rise against us. 

when oceans rise, we have this hope as an anchor for our soul: our God will stand unshakeable.

and because of that? He alone is my rock and my fortress.

so i will not be shaken.