My feet turned toward the ocean, knowing I would have to pass through though my mind screamed in defiance. The wind whipped my hair around my face, salt stinging my cheeks, tears forming in my eyes. Water started crawling closer to my head, to my mouth, as cold as ice and thick as tar. Dread filled my body, pulsing through my veins, filling my cells, until my head was clouded with it and my lungs breathed it in and out. But my feet stubbornly continued, wading deeper and deeper into the bottomless black water.
The sky was as black as the ocean beneath me, sharp gray rocks the only shore in sight, not a single light in the distance except the occasional flash of lightning. Buzzards circled above me, waiting for me to fall before them and become their next meal. I shuddered, even though I knew the fate that awaited me was far worse than any animal could inflict on me.
The blackness swirled around me, reaching closer and closer to its prey. I swore whispers filled my ear, but all I could hear were snatches of words that sent shivers down my spine. “Death.” “Pain.” “Never return from this.” The tears fell freely now, mixing with the salt water on my face, running down my neck and lips. As the water hit my heart, it froze. It turned cold as ice, hard as a rock, no blood pumping through it as the water took over my circulatory system.
My neck quivered as the water pulled me down farther and farther. I refused to look down, to confront the nothingness I would have to face. I tried to suck in as much breath as I could as I felt the water on my face, but my lungs refused to cooperate, and I ran out of breath before the water even reached my nose. Then all I could smell, all I could feel, all I could see was black, black water.
As the blood-thirsty water fully submerged my head, the ground was suddenly gone, and I fell to my back inside the horrible ocean. My limbs would not move, not kick or trash or swim in any direction, just float uselessly as my body betrayed me to the water. I was a rock, sinking, down, down, down, the water taking its time to kill me though I was terrified. Even when I opened my eyes, all I could see was black, above me, below me, surrounding me.
There was nothing. Nothing to grab onto, nothing to pull me up, nothing to save me. Nothing surrounded me and nothing filled me until all I could do was scream silent sobs to a heartless ocean.
Then, God was there, like a precious buoy, like a lifeboat finally arrived not a minute late or a moment too soon. He was the brightest white light I had ever seen, pulsing and pushing through the water, and the darkness seemed to run from Him. Finally, I had something to grab onto. Finally, I had something to pull me up. Finally, I had something to save me.
A sob escaped my lips, but this one of joy, relief, and happiness.
He held out His beautiful, pure hand for me to take, a blinding light that I welcomed my eyes to behold, and I clung to His hand like it was the only thing that would save me because it was.
And I survived that terrible, black ocean, only because He was with me.
Word Count: 587
This is based on Isaiah 43:2,
"When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you..."
I'm planning on writing a mini-series regarding this section of Isaiah. My original plan was to make it all one piece, but that didn't work out, hehe. Hope you like it!
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