Deep water

Have you ever been in the ocean when the water was crystal clear and submerged yourself in the water? There is something about being under the water when it is crystal clear and looking around at the seemingly endless expanse of water surrounding me.

A few years ago my family and I did a staycation on one of our local beaches here on the west coast of Florida. It was early in the morning and the sun was just starting to appear over the horizon. The Gulf of Mexico was still as glass and crystal clear. I had never seen the Gulf that still. I put on my swim trunks, went out, and dove into the water. I swam out to the deeper water and surrendered to the water and just sunk underneath it. As I sunk deeper and deeper I looked around there was seemingly no end in every direction. It was so beautiful I was in complete awe as I looked around at the endless expanse but at the same time, it was so peaceful. As I looked down at myself the water had completely saturated me. There was not one place on my body where the water was not touching it had fully enveloped every part of me.

As I floated there under the water I heard the Lord whisper to me. “This is the same way that My Presence surrounds you when you surrender yourself to Me, there is not a single place in your life that My presence does not touch. I am the all-consuming God.”

I floated to the top of the water and just laid there on my back and just began to worship Him.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

It is only from this place, a place of complete surrender are we transformed into His image. This is our identity this is who God created us to be. God created us to be a reflection of Him.

For so long I struggled with my Identity trying to figure out who I was and where I belonged. I searched for it in people. I searched for it in positions. I searched for it in ministry. I searched everywhere I thought it was but it wasn't. The problem I was having is I was looking, listening, and following others who were confident and established in their identity who had put in the time and had done the work, but instead of putting in my own work, I floated along beside them aligning my identity with theirs. That worked for short seasons. The issue with my approach is I was only seeing the result of their hard work on the surface. What I failed to understand by floating alongside them on the surface is their identities were not established when I would see them for a few hours a week on the surface, but instead, they had learned something I was not willing to learn and that was surrender.

Their lives were spent in surrender to the deep water. When storms would come they would not stay on the surface and get beat up by the crashing waves, but instead would surrender to the movement of the deep water. When they needed direction they would not try to swim and fight against the riptides of the surface, but instead would surrender to the flow of the deep water and allow the deep currents to carry them.

Surrendering to the deep water is my Obedience to God.

Obedience to God's voice. Obedience to God's direction. Obedience to God’s calling. Obedience to God’s correction. Obedience is beholding HIM.

It is saying YES to Him in everything.

Once I stopped floating at the surface and learned to surrender to the deep water of beholding Him I see more clearly every day who He says I am. When I turn to Him and surrender the veil is removed from my eyes and I behold His glory. As I behold Him His glory transforms me day by day into His image.

This beholding transformation is my Identity.