Surfing the Storm

 

We love taking family trips to the ocean, no matter where. The girls enjoy the calm water, and it always feels like a good day when there are no waves. The beach is crowded on days like this. But a few times, we visited when tropical storms developed while we were there. We, like most people, hurried off the beach and back to our hotel. But we always encountered a handful headed in the opposite direction, toward the shore instead. They were surfers.

Storms make waves double or triple in size, allowing surfers to reach heights they never could on an ordinary day.  The only thing is, when you reach heights that high, the same lows go with it.

I’ve discovered the same is true about the storms we face within ourselves. In the difficulties and trials of life, it can feel as though we’re caught in our own personal storms. Yet, it’s in those very storms that I have been lifted to new heights—moments of clarity, faith, and hope that I never would have reached otherwise. Yes, there have been moments of lows when the weight of my circumstances pressed so heavily that I wondered if I’d ever rise again. Despair threatened to pull me under. Yet, every time I called out for help, I found myself—like a surfer catching the perfect wave—lifted higher than before. It’s in the raging storm and the soaring heights that I’ve come to recognize God’s gentle voice guiding me and to experience a deep, unshakable peace that calms my soul.

The psalmist shares the same experience. 

They saw the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunkards; they were at their wits’ end. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. (Ps.107:23-29)