When a lake became a river (the day I met the Ocean)

I am a body of water. I am perfectly still, but I am not meant to be still. There is a Spirit that wants to indwell me. There is a furious love that seeks to overtake me. But I resist it. I resist company. I resist change. I stay where I belong. I am accustomed to isolation. I look out on all the other bodies of water. They are all so beautiful, but so apart. I am a lake. And a lake sits alone, surrounded by strangers; ruff land that pushes against me and tells me where I cannot go. A lake sits alone.

Then one day a storm came and woke me. I didn’t even know I was asleep, but I felt the storm stirring in my center, growing faster and gaining momentum. It brewed from the deepest of places. It was restlessness. The Spirit saw my restlessness and felt compassion. He breathed a mighty wind over me, and my stillness turned to waves. I moved for the very first time. I was alive for the first time. I felt something other than my cold, isolated stillness.

The Spirit came and sat beside me. He told me that I am not a lake (He said He’d know because He made me). The Spirit says I am a river and that He is the Ocean. He was there before I ever began, and all my lonely days I had been slowly making my way towards Him, separate, but connected. I saw the world with new eyes. There were countless rivers leading to the Sea. Some were obstructed. Trees had fallen and soil had stopped the flow. Most were like this, but many rivers met the arms of the ocean, and when they did the crash of waves was unspeakably beautiful. This is what we had all been waiting for. We were finally home. We started so far away not knowing what was at the end. We were afraid of the end. But then we saw Him; the mighty Ocean.

You are not alone. You are a river. Let the Spirit of God lead you into the endless ocean of His love.


“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’” - Matthew 11:28-29