Scraps of Grace

When I was a little girl, we spent so much time at the beach.

During the weekdays, my mom would keep us there while my dad worked. Then on the weekends, he would come down and join us.

Sometimes we would take the boat out to Shackleford Banks. On the way there, you pass through the Beaufort Inlet, which can sometimes get a little rough.

If it got windy that day, the waves would feel like they were going to crash right over the boat. We would go up so high and then drop back down. Sometimes we even got caught in thunderstorms. When we went out, it was calm, but on the way in it was stormy and rough.

My mom would panic. She didn’t want her babies out on a boat in the middle of a storm.

But my dad was always calm. Why?

Because he knew what he was doing. And somehow, even as a little girl, I believed that too.

I wasn’t afraid. Not even a little.

I didn’t have proof. I couldn’t point to experience or certainty that we wouldn’t tip over. All I knew was that my father knew what he was doing, and I trusted him.

We were surrounded by waves and wind and uncertainty. Everything around me could have looked dangerous.

But I just sat there smiling. Laughing. Riding through the waves without fear.

Because I trusted that my dad would get me home safe.

And I knew that when it was all over, I’d get to go home, take a shower, and wrap up in a warm blanket.

I look back on that now, and I think about life with our Heavenly Father.

Life brings rough waters. Unexpected waves and storms. Seasons that rise and fall, even when we don’t understand why.

And still, He is steady.

If He is the one driving the boat, why are we so afraid?

He isn’t shaken by the storm. He isn’t unsure of the way. He knows exactly what He’s doing. He is a good father.

And our job isn’t to take control. It’s to trust Him.

To sit in the middle of it all and still find joy. To believe, even when we can’t see. To rest, even when everything around us feels uncertain.

Because one day, we’ll be home.

And our Father will wrap us up in a comfort far greater than anything we’ve known here.

Verse- Isaiah 43:2

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.”

Song- Dancing on the Waves- We the Kingdom, Franni Cash