Ripples

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise, my soul will rest in Your embrace (Oceans, by Hillsong)

The words of this song reiterate what we talked about a bit on our retreat. When Peter walked on water it was because he had his eyes fixed on Jesus and not on the storm that surrounded him.

And we do that.

We stop looking at Jesus and focus on our circumstances, and how quickly we sink. Imgaine how far we could walk on that water if we didn’t take our eyes off Jesus?

And then this morning, as I had been pondering this, I also began thinking about ripples in the water. How the ripple effect is so evident from our retreat. The connections made this weekend were just the beginning of so many ripples…

Ripples created by walking on that water, eyes fixed on Jesus.

Ripples that would not have happened otherwise. We would not have had these 33 women together for two days in a “normal” setting.

Connections between sisters struggling…whether it be with marriages or family or children…or whatever it is. There were sisters that looked at each other and said, “You too?”

 
Ripples.

With each step we take ON THE WATER, stepping out in faith, with eyes on Jesus…we are making ripples in that water.

They are countless…

I can’t even begin to wrap my head around the fact that I stepped out in faith with this retreat, and I am seeing those ripples…

When I think of the aftermath of this retreat, it is overwhelming. That every day there are going to be ripples that will keep going out because of the connections made. Or the things that God showed each lady. Or the words were spoken. Or sometimes unspoken, yet given in an embrace, a tear wiped, or a gentle hand held.

I can’t get over it.

I also talked this weekend about mountain top moments. How our view changes as our lives go on. As we struggle, as we live, as we experience God, our view gets higher and higher up on the mountain. Our perspective changes. We see more and more of the big picture. And it is beautiful.

Our view is no longer limited by the mountain itself, but we see the world from on top of the mountain.

I had a mountain top moment this weekend. I saw the view from above of the ripples beginning in that water…and it was oh, so glorious!