Waves

I grew up around the water and never remember a time that going to the beach was not just a normal day. Even though we didn't always live close to the beach we went quite often and with my Momma's family living in Florida the sand and the sea was not a vacation spot to me, it was just a place to go...a typical Saturday afternoon.

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I guess I couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 when we went to Pensacola, Florida for a mini-vacation. I remember playing in the sand and the ocean all day. The undertow was sort of rough and I remember Momma telling us to be careful. As I stood about waist high a wave came crashing towards me and before I could suck in enough air the undertow grabbed me as if someone had snatched my legs out from under me by my ankles. I could feel my body being pulled further away from the shore and I remember thinking that all I wanted to do was breathe but knew I couldn't. I opened my eyes and all I could see was dark, murky water. Panic and fear began to fill me and I began to move my arms and my legs thinking the entire time that all I wanted to do was breathe.

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It seemed like an eternity passed when all of a sudden another wave came and it was if someone had lifted me from underneath my back with their arms and just slowly and gently carried me to the shore. I remember seeing the murky ocean floor and then the sky, the murky ocean floor and then the sky. I guess I was rolling in with the wave.

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When I finally hit the sand all I remember is sucking in a huge breath of air. I was probably only trapped in that water for a mere minute but to me it seemed like hours! From that moment on I have no memory. I have no clue if I told my Momma what happened. I don't remember if I had some sort of post traumatic stress about it. Not a single clue. But, I do remember being very, very cautious about getting in the water. Even to this day I am quite cautious about how far I go, how far the kids go and when we travel to the beach I'm constantly barking out orders on where my boundaries are so that I do not have some sort of mental breakdown! haha

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But, with all that said I do remember being a young girl, probably almost a teenager and we were at the beach. I remember being very cautious about my footing, careful not to go out any further than knee deep when Daddy came out and asked if I wanted to jump the waves. I shook my head no and kept looking down watching the sand filter back out to sea between my toes. After much pushing and prodding by my Daddy I finally agreed to go waist high into the water as long as my Daddy went with me.

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"Here one comes!" he yelled. I gritted my teeth, clasped my hands into a fist and hunkered down waiting on the wave to hit me. As the water began to splash around my arms and my legs I opened my eyes to see the wave crash into the shore realizing that I never felt it hit me in the back. A few seconds later Daddy yelled again "Hold on!" and yet again all I felt was the water hitting my arms and legs. I peeked over my shoulder to find my Daddy standing directly behind me. He was blocking the waves! He wasn't able to protect me from getting wet but he was able to protect me from going under!

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God does the same thing! Psalm 89:9 says "You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them." Your Daddy is right there with you blocking the waves one right after the other. And, just so you know, since he is your Daddy and you are his child, he protects you from being pulled out to sea! Aren't Daddies just great?!?! =)