{"id":59,"date":"2010-05-02T09:25:16","date_gmt":"2010-05-02T14:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/?p=59"},"modified":"2011-04-22T22:08:22","modified_gmt":"2011-04-23T03:08:22","slug":"the-majestic-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/02\/the-majestic-ocean\/","title":{"rendered":"The Majestic Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Guest Blog Post: Marie Wikle known as <\/em><\/strong>@spreadingJOY <\/em><\/strong><\/a>on twitter. Full of encouragement and the desire to make a difference everywhere she goes, Marie sneaks away to the beach every single chance she gets. Here is a glimpse of the ocean through her eyes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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My heart is pounding! You’d think\u00a0I had not been to the ocean in\u00a0years, but\u00a0actually, it’s only been a few months.\u00a0I quickly head to the sandy shores of the Atlantic.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m giddy with delight! No matter how many times I come here, my heart feels as if\u00a0it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve seen it in years.\u00a0 I love the ocean.\u00a0 I love the smell, I love the sound, I love the sights! I simply love it.<\/p>\n

The sand feels so cool on my feet.\u00a0 I must remove my shoes to get the full effects. I love walking thru the sand to the water.\u00a0 I reach the edge of the shore, the gentle waves lap up against me, saying “hello my dear friend! Do you know I love having you near me?” \u00a0I sit in the sand, near the water but not so close as to get soaked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I keep my feet at the edge, enjoying the cool water washing over my toes as I gaze out over the glorious ocean.\u00a0 I look straight ahead.\u00a0As far as I can see is water.\u00a0 This mighty ocean is so peaceful, so calming as it rocks back and forth showing the world that God is in control of the waves.\u00a0 The gentle rocking is luring me into its massiveness by it mighty power.\u00a0 So gentle, yet so huge and powerful. It can lull the most troubled heart to sleep easily and, yet, wipe out entire cities by its force.\u00a0 I love the vastness of it. \u00a0I look to the left and the waters are never ending\u2026just like\u00a0God’s love for me. I look to the right and the waters go on forever. I love that.\u00a0 I look ahead and imagine how deep the ocean must be.\u00a0 No one can touch the bottom of the ocean.\u00a0\u00a0I think how wonderful that is, because my sins are buried just that\u00a0deep – as the deepest seas.\u00a0\u00a0And, better than that, God forgets them!\u00a0 He remembers them no more!\u00a0 Amazing!<\/p>\n

I look straight ahead and admire the utter vastness of the ocean and think of how big and mighty God truly is and yet \u2013 he takes the time to love me \u2013 little ole nobody \u2013 me.\u00a0 God is bigger than this ocean, mightier than the wildest waves and wind and yet, for some reason, He draws me to Him.\u00a0He calls me and \u00a0HE wants me to spend time with Him.\u00a0 He can have anyone on the face of the earth, and he wants me.\u00a0\u00a0I look at the sand and the wonderful treasures that are buried there. I see the normal ole seashells, plain, \u00a0like me.\u00a0Millions of them are there.\u00a0 Usually, I never pick them up unless they are shiny and beautiful.\u00a0 I smile and\u00a0wonder why God picks me up.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m not shiney and mercy, no where near beautiful.\u00a0 Oh, I adore the cool seashells!\u00a0I love when they are in whole pieces, but I rarely find them \u2013 and yet \u2013 I laugh to myself \u2013 when mom comes to the ocean, she comes back with oodles of cool shells that she found as gifts from the ocean. I smile and think to myself,\u00a0she deserves those treasures from the ocean,\u00a0she is truly a wonderful woman who deserves more than I can ever give her.<\/p>\n

I sit beside the ocean for hours, soaking up every sound, every quiet clap of the waves, every gentle swoosh of the the water retreating back into its bed.\u00a0 I love the deep and complete peace I feel as I sit there, beside the majestic ocean.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Knowing that as God controls the ocean, he truly controls everything in my life.<\/p>\n

I look straight ahead, \u00a0a beautiful orange glow is emerging off of the horizon!\u00a0I didn\u2019t realize that God was giving me yet another gift!\u00a0Another desire of my very own heart! The desire to see the full moon rise up out of the ocean, to light my night, to light my path, \u00a0to lead the way for me.\u00a0 It creeps up, inch by inch, pouring more and more of its light right down upon me.\u00a0 I smile and think “thank you Lord for the full moon”\u00a0I have always loved how I feel closer to the Lord when it is shining down.\u00a0 The full moon over the mighty ocean –\u00a0 the greatest gift ever.<\/p>\n

I love the glory of it all!\u00a0 So majestic! The huge moon, watching my every step, lighting my way.\u00a0 The ocean that is gentle, peaceful, yet strong enough to violently shatter the earth with its great waves.\u00a0 I sit and\u00a0dwell on His goodness.\u00a0I soak up His greatness, His wonder, HIS love for me \u2013 thank you Father, that I can always visit the ocean in my minds eye.\u00a0\u00a0 Your grace is enough,\u00a0and it truly does amaze me.\u00a0 Your grace and love is sufficient and never ending \u2013 just like the ocean.<\/p>\n

What do you see when you look at the Ocean?\u00a0 Can you imagine how deep God’s love for you is?\u00a0 Can you look out over the ocean and realize the power it takes to hold the water in place?<\/p>\n

My Prayer for you when YOU look at the ocean!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When you see the perfect cute litte treasures of the “neat” shells, may you remember that YOU are that special and that out of all the millions of “shells” that you stand out and God is waiting to pick you up and place you with his prized shells so that you may bless the heart of others everytime someone looks at you.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you feel the gentle waves lapping at your feet – may you be reminded of how tenderly God holds us in his hands – and how he comforts our hearts when we are troubled.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you see the waves clapping – know that HE is coming for us one day.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you see the waves crashing on the shore – remember that this is a tiny portion of how much power God holds and ALL THINGS ARE possible by him – for his children that HE adores.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you see the never endingness of the ocean, may you be reminded of how HE loves us – truly deep down loves us. and that love is never ending.<\/em><\/p>\n

When you gaze at the ocean and wonder how deep it is, may you be reminded that it is sooo deep that our deepest sins are buried there and even God himself can not get to them, nor can he remember them.<\/em><\/p>\n

May you feel the love of the LORD sweep over you and on to your life as you gaze at the majestic ocean, that is nothing short of awesome!<\/em><\/p>\n

Last Thought:<\/strong> Do you know that with all of the millions of “shells” that surround you, that God chooses YOU too!\u00a0 He draws you.\u00a0 He wants you to dwell with him.\u00a0 Are you spending time with Him.\u00a0 Are you being still beside the ocean and enjoying the view? *patting the sand* come…sit right here, next to me and let’s enjoy how awesome God is – together!<\/p>\n

{{{HUGS}}} Yall!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Blog Post: Marie Wikle known as @spreadingJOY on twitter. Full of encouragement and the desire to make a difference everywhere she goes, Marie sneaks away to the beach every single chance she gets. Here is a glimpse of the ocean through her eyes. My heart is pounding! You’d think\u00a0I had not been to the … <\/p>\n

Read more “The Majestic Ocean”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,23],"tags":[149,146,148,138,135,151,139,150,141,142,5,140,143,145,156,155,154,153,144,147],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archived","category-marie","tag-atlantic-ocean","tag-bottom-of-the-ocean","tag-cool-water","tag-deepest-seas","tag-desire","tag-encouragement","tag-gentle-waves","tag-glimpse","tag-glorious-ocean","tag-god-is-in-control","tag-love","tag-majestic-ocean","tag-mighty-ocean","tag-sandy-shores","tag-shoes","tag-sleep","tag-sunrise","tag-toes","tag-troubled-heart","tag-vastness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianrep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}