This week I had a chance to escape to the hill country with my friends, away from the suburbs and the concrete, away from all the stress and to-do lists. We laughed deeply around a fire and stared at the stars, and we goofed off like high-schoolers do (in the most responsible way, of course). We climbed Enchanted Rock and looked over all the rolling hills, and we explored Pedernales Falls in all its beauty. And I was able to really relax for the first time in a long time.
But the best part of the trip wasn't the loud laughter or the beauty of the land that left us all awestruck. The best part was the sweet quiet time I had with my best friend Ashley, in a secret place tucked away in the forest.
As the sun was rising, we set out to a viewing deck that overlooked a small waterfall flowing into a steady river. We plopped down on the deck and opened our bibles, reading and journaling away. I read Colossians 1, about how by Jesus all things were created, and in him all things hold together. It was so sweet to just sit and soak in that promise at work in His creation around me. Everything around me proclaimed His faithfulness and His sovereignty, and it was our turn to do the same.
When we finished our quiet times, we stood up and marveled at the sunlight spilling over the hill and breaking into a million little rays through the branches. We talked about life and the sweetness of the moment. And randomly Ashley said, "We should sing!" So that's what we did. The two of us stood there and sang old hymns and our favorite worship songs, no one around to hear or see, only the depth of the river below and the height of the sky above as our audience.
As our voices carried over the trees and the falls, I thought about this verse that had been pressed on my heart a lot lately:
Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me. (Psalms 42:7)
And I thought how sweet it is that our life can be like that moment in the forest, in the quiet and secret place. In the depths of our sorrow, in the depths of our joy, He hears us. No matter what is consuming us, no matter how strong the storm may be that is washing over us, when we call out to Him, He responds with an even deeper depth. For His presence is far deeper than all our suffering and all our joy combined. He is infinite and immeasurable in greatness. And when the infinite depth of His presence collides with the very limited depth of my circumstance, something miraculous happens. Suddenly, I am overtaken by a new kind of depth, and new waters rush over me. And these waters are alive with promise and fresh with hope.
So today I declare to live life like that morning in the forest, calling out to the Lord with reckless abandon. From the depths of my soul, I will call out to my Lord as the waters of a new day begin to rush over me. And I will stand there and watch as His waters come rushing in, drenching me in His grace and filling me with new life. This is the promise that spills over into our hearts every morning: That He is the all consuming God whose infinite depth never fails to cover over us. Rejoice in that today.
