Wild, Reckless Love, Ocean Waves, & The Week After
“Your love is like an ocean,” as Rick Pino sings, and I’m love-drunk on the waves. I stand waist-deep, watching wave crests break the line of sky and water. Behold the rushing glory of God sweeping me into His embrace.
I must go deeper, where saltwater swells higher. Taste the breath of God in the wind. Drink in the dripping nearness of God.
I’m here. Held. Whole. Wildly, outrageously, unconditionally loved.
I need nothing more. Only Him. So I inch out a little farther. Close my eyes and let His love lift me. Drench me. Fill me.
There’s an endless expanse of God’s love. For you. For me. For the whole lot of us pressed into the space of the now and the not-yet. Where there’s questions reminiscent of heaven and end stops that plant us in the right-here-and-now.
I hold onto the scent of ocean, waves, God’s with-ness. It’s the week after the world changed with the death and living-again of One both God and man. A collision of normal and also not. I’m guilty of being one quick to forget that Easter’s not a day come and gone but a day that changes everything. Forever.
You too?
You’ve put away the baskets, the cracked-open eggs, the dinner leftovers. And in the quiet of the after emerges an undeniable desire. For God to be nearer than your breath. For hope and goodness and grace to lighten your step as you return to the pace of your life. For the small moments to have meaning. For your relationships to have depth. For your faith to be sure and steady.
Jesus changed everything, but how do we live changed every day when the emails and meetings and workload never slow, when kids get bruised knees and pink eye, and the soul-fissures of our delicate world multiply?
We’ve been content to seek God only when we realize we need Him. When the loss and hurts and questions are unbearable. When there’s nowhere else to turn.
But He’s been here. He never left. And He never, ever will because He’s wildly consumed with you.
He wants you to know the way you make His heart stop.
The way your voice makes His eyes smile.
The way He covets your gaze.
The way He wants you to know the depth of His love for you.
He’s crazy about you. He moved heaven and earth for you. To be with you.
Promises that cannot be retracted
As I brush remnant sand from the cover of my journal, I remember Hebrews 6:18. It’s here, the words scripted in cursive, dated 4/3/23.
So it is impossible for God to lie for we know that his promise and his vow will never change. And now we have run into his heart to hide ourselves in his faithfulness. This is where we find his strength and comfort, for he empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time—an unshakeable hope!
TPT
God’s promises aren’t drawn with a stick in wet sand, washed flat with the advancing tide. They’re etched in age-old stone. They cannot be retracted. Period.
The tear-muddled spots in my Bible mark the places I’ve lingered, small and undone in the presence of the Promise-Keeper, Way-Maker, Infinitely-Holy God. I know by heart the verses I’ve underlined so many times they’re barely legible. The worship song lyrics I’ve penned in the margins even where they’re blurred. Promises. More promises, mirroring the great big heart of God that says come near. There’s more. I’m not done yet.
I started writing song lyrics in the margins of my Bible in college. I’d turn on Jason Upton, Rita Springer, Misty Edwards, Rick Pino, or the International House of Prayer livestream and sink to the carpet, head bent over my Bible. Sometimes for minutes. Sometimes for hours.
It was there I met with God. Learned how dear I was to Him and how I needed to be near Him.
Lately I can’t turn off worship music, and lyrics are again filling my Bible margins. It helps me remember that He’s always here. It’s I who forgets to seek Him.
And this week after Easter I want to remember that He’s here for the finding. Here in early rising to spend time on my face before the day breaks. Here in the pen pressing gratitude, praise, and prayer onto paper. Here in the strains of worship playing like a soundtrack inside my head.
Seek Him first and you find Him everywhere. Make room and He’ll move in. Let go in reckless surrender and He’ll fill every crack, saturate every dry place, and overflow like a gushing stream of Living Water.
5 ways to seek God first so you can find Him everywhere
Research says what we reach for first has a way of leaking into the rest of our day. We skip important stages of waking up, trigger unnecessary stress, and compromise our creativity.
So let me ask you this: What do you grasp first when you wake up in the morning? Your phone, a worry you’re still carrying from yesterday, something you’ve been avoiding?
There are days I’d answer yes to all of the above. But I’m learning a different way, and how much more aware of God’s presence I am throughout the day when I seek Him first.
And this week—the week after Easter—is a perfect time to start a new habit. The must-do’s and news, emails and comments waiting for a reply—they can wait. They don’t have to sway a whole day’s thoughts. Sabotage your joy. Override your peace.
We get to choose how we’ll begin each day. In that brief moment after you’ve quieted your alarm, try one of these things before you open a single app on your phone.
1—Say a breath prayer.
Here’s the one I pray first thing every morning, as a way to lean into my word of the year:
May I not miss (inhale)
Who’s right in front of me (exhale)
2—Whisper gratitude like God’s in the room.
Gratitude is a before, not an after, and when I start here everything changes because gratitude changes me. Find inspiring gratitude stories here.
3—Recite a Bible verse.
Choose a life verse or a promise, like verse 8 of Psalm 138 (which I literally cannot get over), and memorize it so you can say it before you get out of bed.
You keep every promise you’ve ever made to me! Since your love is constant and endless, I ask you, Lord, to finish every good thing you’ve begun in me.
TPT
4—Turn on worship music.
Worship music keeps distractions at bay and draws me closer to God. What better way to start the day?!
(In case you’re not getting Tuesdays with Twyla yet, I often share the worship songs I play on repeat. Join us here.)
5—Get on your knees.
There’s something about combining worship music with time on my knees and no agenda but to be near God. It’s become my favorite place to be. What’s on my mind when I wake up and often throughout the day. Learn more about the physical posture of surrender in this recent post.
All five ideas I’ve listed are ones I’ve included in my daily brain dump. If you haven’t grabbed my brain dump sheet yet, there’s space to write how you’ll connect with God, another for how you’ll nurture relationships, and a third for the tasks that are yours to do. It’s a way to de-stress, re-prioritize, and balance your life—and you can grab it free here!
Get the brain dump sheet to help you seek God first so you can find Him everywhere!
I invite you to pray this with me, because when you’re outrageously loved it gives you courage to treat those around you like they’re outrageously loved too.
Jesus, You came for me. Distracted, restless, sometimes apathetic me. You came with love as deep as the ocean—wild, bold, relentless love that pursues me when I’ve weak, collides with my pain and shame and try-hard efforts, leaves me bare-souled, humbled, and undeservedly cherished. I offer my small but sincere thank you.
Just a friend over here in your corner,
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