Have you ever felt like you enter a phase of your life, and you realize that you feel like you are turning into the person you are meant to be?

Did you ever feel like everything is falling into place, you're as happy as can be and then something happens, or something didn't turn out the way you had hoped or planned?

The truth is that we all have.

As summer sadly comes to an end, I began to think back to lounging on the beach, listening to the waves of the sea crash at the shoreline. A lot of us love the beach and the ocean because it is our "happy place," and it is calming. Did you ever wonder exactly why the beach is your getaway, your place to relax, and your place to think for yourself?

Think back to every summer, the first time you are back at the beach and you are running or walking at a fast pace, headed directly for the ocean. You just can't wait till the water hits your toes, there is this sense of peace that comes over us. Well the ocean is not only calming, but is a pretty accurate depiction of our lives, and especially how God works in them.

Just as we are walking into the ocean, confidently trying to keep our balance and trying not to get tumbled by a wave, it sweeps us up and knocks us over. We are tossed and turned in the wave with the sand and shells. We stand back up, and we tell ourselves that the next time we will be even more careful entering the huge and powerful tides of saltwater. We will hold a friend or family member's hand when we enter the surf next time. We change something, approach the sea differently, we are forever changed from that time we got tossed and turned in the wave.

This is how life works. No matter if we are 5, 20, 50, 75, or 100, we are always being changed and molded. Every life event changes us, and tells us something new about ourselves. We go a new path to the one in which we feel is right, and the one that God has planned for us. Just when we feel like we are the happiest we have ever been, we become comfortable. Then something new happens. Sometimes we can't catch a break.

The biggest thing to keep in mind though, is that God is so amazing and so powerful. He is more powerful than the waves of the ocean, our God can move mountains. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of reflection after a traumatic life event that twirls us around in the waves of the sea.

When we face in obstacle or setback, instead of becoming frustrated or upset and questioning God, we should simply say "Thank you." We should thank him for saving us from something that he didn't have planned for us. These obstacles and struggles are only temporary, they are just wounds that change us, but we get through them over time.

During the hard times, we all become weak, whether it is- the loss of a loved one, the heartache after a breakup, the rejection letter of your number one school, the pressures of financial issues; we are changed by these times. Whether it is the joy of a new experience, or the hurt from a setback, we are constantly put into different situations by the Lord.

When we think we know what is best for us, the Lord has something even greater. It is a matter of following what the Holy Spirit is telling you, so that you can continue on the path that God has planned just specifically for YOU.

No matter what age we are, we are constantly finding ourselves from the moment we are born, till the time that we go to Heaven. Remember that each joy, yet each sorrow have all led you to where you are right now in this very moment.

The more we trust in God and place our lives in his hands, the more that we see the joy that is coming and is ever lasting.