Life comes to us in waves, crashing waves filled with emotion.  I love to go to the beach.  I am living a mile from the beach at the present time, so I can just pop over whenever I want, to enjoy a sunrise, a sunset, or just the everyday things a beach has to offer.  I recently went to the beach.  I went because I was filled with pain and negativity.  I was filled with stories and ideas that I had been holding onto for years.  Stories screaming that I was ‘not good enough’, whatever good enough means.  Stories that yelled that I was to blame for so many things.  I went to the beach to meet my Creator, to spend time with Them, to ask for help and give back all of these things I have carried for so long.  I walked into the water and stood at the edge.  I watched as the huge waves crashed.  Then they did something, I had never truly paid attention to.  These crashing waves smoothed out and carried with them the shells, rocks, seaweed, and other things that you see on the shore and water’s edge.  Then I watched as the current pulled them out a little back into the water.  The next wave came in and carried them back to shore, and the cycle repeated.  Over and over I watched this phenomenon for about 15-20 minutes.  I decided this was just like these emotions, stories, and ideas that I wanted to let go of and the miracle that was occurring.  See, when I was younger with my child-like faith, I expected miracles to be instantaneous.  Like many of the stories in the Bible, I thought that if God performed a miracle, you would automatically be healed or restored from your problems.  When this did not happen, I held with me that I was not ‘good enough’ for God to grant me a miracle, only reinforcing the negativity I had acquired.  As my faith walk has deepened and the journey at times has gotten darker, I have learned that this is not always true.  Sometimes, miracles are instantaneous, and that is joyful and celebratory.  However, sometimes, miracles are slower and steady.  Just like the waves and their contents, You give and what you give away, slowly comes back, then you must give it away again.  First, you experience moments of freedom, and gradually these moments become longer until you become completely free.  For me, my miracle has become a journey, a work in progress, but a miracle just the same.