Barbie Loflin

Last night I dreamed I could hear the sound of water breaking against a very close shoreline. It sounded like there was an ocean just outside my door. A night-ocean. The sound drew me; drew me on a very deep level.I moved across the room and to the door and stepped out onto a balcony. It was high balcony and it overlooked the waters, and though it was dark as pitch, I knew from the sound that if the moon were to come out in full I would find myself literally suspended over the water… the sound was that close and that rich. Rolling, undulating, crashing, breaking, pounding upon the banks.I wanted terribly to see what I knew was there, but it was too dark and there was no light to reflect off of the white crests. I ached with the longing of hearing but not seeing. I could not see… but I knew, and I leaned deep into the space in hopes of catching just a glimpse of the sound.

Oh, that sound! It washed through me.In my longing I cried, “Lord, I want to see the waters.”He answered my heart, “Until you see the waters, let the sound sustain you.Trust in what you cannot see.”And with His words, my heart pressed deeper and my spirit engaged the sound of many waters. I cried… and I longed… and I hoped.Wide awake, quickened, and humbled, I moved toward the waiting.

As I stood on this balcony the Lord reminded me that this is how we are to live this life He has given us.Trusting in what we cannot see, we cry out to Him in all that we do.We hear a sound in the spirit and we long for Him in the depths.We hope – because our hearts have heard the waters; the sound of promise washing through us and pouring across eternity.We hope – because our spirits resound with the rhythm of the waves.We long – because we have tasted.We yearn – because only He can satisfy.We break – because His beauty unhinges all that held us together.

Yes, because of the breathtaking radiance of Christ we are fully and completely undone; marvelously melted.And we lean over earths temporal balcony and listen with our hearts, for that which we long for and that which resounds within our spirits.

So what do we do as we await the waters only our spirits can hear?

We move toward the sound.With everything on the inside of us we shift forward.We move in prayer, in reverence, in worship, in silence, in hope, in faith, in deep anticipation.We make a decision to move toward Him in ways that cost us something.We sacrifice praise from a new altar of brokenness.We put off the old wine skins and allow Him to make new ones.We sing, we dance, we rejoice, we cry, we kneel, we pray.We lean.

And we listen in the depths to this wonderful God of the night-ocean.