Melinda Eye Cooper : Carry me

We just got back from a wonderful beach vacation ❤

We haven't taken a family vacation for about five years, it seems. So, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The downside was that we got there when a hurricane was hitting the gulf. But it was a Category One and we weren't directly in it's path. When we arrived, the water was all the way up to the dunes and as muddy as the Mississippi River.

Even though the conditions were not ideal for relaxation, we figured we'd never be at the beach again during a hurricane so we tried to make the best of a bad situation. It was definitely exciting. 😅

So, we went shopping and drove to see sights the next day because the beach was too wild to enjoy. Wind and waves, wind and waves. But by the next day, we could go sit on the beach and listen to that wonderful relaxing sound of waves rolling in and splashing on the sand.

By the last full day we had to enjoy the beach, it was finally the way I imagined our vacation would be. The brown water cleared up as the shoreline receded from the dunes and there were more folks enjoying the day alongside us on the beach.

There was a little girl there about seven or eight years old who spent the majority of the day using a skim board directly in front of us. She had some pretty good skills, I must say!

As we were about to leave the beach and go eat dinner, I noticed that she and her daddy were walking out into the ocean together. Each time a big wave came, they'd jump and walk on farther out. Eventually, he was holding her hand and then finally she was riding on his back with her arms wrapped around his neck. (How I wish I would have snapped a picture of this!)

I was reminded of a dream I had right before we went on vacation where my dad was with me and I was hugging his back in a similar way and he said, "What a wonderful surprise!" Then he called me by my nickname he rarely uses these days. When I awoke from the dream, I pondered it and realized it's been a long time since he called me that and I haven't hugged his back since childhood.

Seeing the little girl in the ocean with her dad brought back to memory the safety I felt riding on my Daddy's back when I was young. I completely trusted that he would carry me safely to our destination, wherever that might be.

I took a break from my daily Bible reading while we were traveling so when we got home, I settled back into my routine. I was taken aback by some of the first verses I read considering the little girl riding on her Daddy's back was still fresh in my mind.

"Listen to me, family of Jacob, everyone that's left of the family of Israel.
I've been carrying you on my back from the day you were born,
And I'll keep on carrying you when you're old.
I'll be there, bearing you when you're old and gray.
I've done it and will keep on doing it, carrying you on my back, saving you." Isaiah 46:3-4

Honestly, I read it over and over. I found great comfort in those words. ❤

I know that God demonstrated this to me before we left for vacation with the dream and while we were at the beach with a picture of a little girl clinging to her Daddy's back with her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as he walked her out into the great depths of the ocean. The water was over her head but it was not over his.

No matter what the future holds and even when I'm old and gray, I know He will carry me.