At a recent Praying Without Words online gathering Beryl shared the following with us:

I stand.

I open myself to God.

I step into God's presence -

into the encompassing ocean of God's love.

I breathe in and out,

breathing in the mercy of God,

breathing out the pain of my sadness.

I am still,

at rest with God

who is deep within me

and all around me.

The author is unknown.

In response Joy Tobler wrote and shared the following two poems:

THE OCEAN OF LOVE

I have stood in the peace

of the ocean of God’s love;

but soon found myself

in the whirlpool of memories

which swirl with pain and anger,

far from God’s peace.

And yet His ocean of love

still surrounds me,

still calls to me to listen

to His voice of calm;

to put aside displeasure for the

pleasure of His forgiving love.

Lord, root me more firmly

in the peace of Your love,

that I might spread Your canopy of love

over those who have hurt me,

that the peace of Your reconciling love

may flow between us,

for our healing and Your glory.

THE ENCOMPASSING OCEAN

In the ocean of God’s love

I float, weightless:

the burden of sin and shame and sorrow

has gone to the depths,

swallowed by Christ’s redeeming love.

I float, upheld by the infilling

of God’s Holy Spirit:

the buoyancy of the breath

of His loving grace

lifting my heart and soul.

I float, at peace,

in harmony with the Creator

and His creation, then

step, surrounded still by

His encompassing love,

into the hurly-burly of daily life.