‘All at sea’ is a familiar metaphor for being in a bit of a muddle. This has certainly applied to me over the last 18 months or so, exacerbated by some health issues over the last three months.

But I have also literally been ‘all at sea’, taking a cruise on a very large ship. It was very easy to become disorientated and lose track of which direction I was facing or trying to go.

There were three stair and lift wells, each with two banks of four lifts on either side. Getting on or off the lifts, you were on the inside of the ship with no external reference points. There were signs pointing forward or aft, but with no view of the outside world, it was still very disorientating.

In daylight, this was resolved by being able to see the outside world. However, at night there were no reference points and little sense of movement, so one could feel quite lost in the great vastness of the ocean.

This loss of a sense of direction, or of knowing where I was, seemed to be a physical reflection of my emotional and spiritual state.

Of course, in the scriptures we read about Jesus and his disciples being in a boat when they encountered bad weather. They had to wake Jesus, crying: “Lord, save us! We are going down.”

Jesus chided them for having little faith and then went on to calm the seas. A reminder that if we trust in him, all will be well.

While on board the cruise, I went to the Sunday service and we sang the sailors’ hymn, ‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save’. It tells of trusting in the Lord to carry sailors safely onwards and homewards.

We also sang the hymn ‘Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven’. One of the verses goes:

“Father-like he tends and spares us, well our feeble frame he knows; in his hands he gently bears us, rescues us from all our foes... widely does his mercy flow.”

The hymn also called to mind Psalm 139, where we are reminded that we are known by God and cannot leave his presence: “His right hand holds me fast.”

Then comes, for me at this time, a very reassuring message in verses 11–12:

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

These thoughts, coupled with another hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’, written by sea captain John Newton, lead me to realise that one of the reasons I was so at ease when I was hospitalised was that, somewhere along the way, I have come to accept that I am indeed looked after, guided and kept safe by God, and truly loved by his Son, the one Lord Jesus Christ.