I recently went to the beach with the expectation of writing. That was my plan. Apparently that was not God’s plan. His plan was to shower me with gifts so that I could feel Him. He was distracting me. Wonderfully and beautifully distracting me from writing.
I had expected to have time to write my lesson for the next two Thursday night Bible Studies. I had expected to write at least three blogs. I had also expected to read our new Bible Study book and make notes to get ahead of November. But my expectations fell short. One blog written and three pages of reading short. But instead of feeling disappointed in myself, I felt relaxed and closer to God.
I felt Him sitting beside me on the balcony overlooking His creation. I saw stars and planets that seem to be suspended in their place just for me to look at. If that wasn’t enough, I saw shooting stars (shooting stars sounds so much nicer than space trash or meteors), not one or two, but six! The sunset as we were driving to our condo, was huge. But it did not compare to the beauty of the morning. It started with the stars again and as they slowly faded, the color of the sky slowly changed colors. The clouds that were dark blue changed to purple and then pink. Eventually those clouds became hot pink, cantaloupe, and finally white. As if the beauty in the sky wasn’t enough, He gifted me with pods of dolphins playing (okay, fishing). Pelicans soaring and gulls chattering.
My expectations did not line up with His plans. He wanted me to sit and be with Him. He wanted me to sit and allow Him to take away the burden and the stress of the testing I was walking through with Him. He could not seem to get my attention in my everyday life, not in the way He did at the beach. I needed time away from all my distractions to acquire peace beyond human understanding. I have written about the testing, I have discussed the testing, and I have found peace about whatever the results were going to be; however, I was not sitting alone with God allowing Him to show me His wonders. Yes, He provided all the scriptures and all the answers I have needed. This experience at the beach was only about being with Him, not asking for anything, just allowing Him to be Him.
There’s a hymn that came to my mind sitting on that balcony watching His wonders unfold before me. “All Creatures of Our God & King”. It is based on a poem written by St. Francis of Assisi around 1225. As I hummed it, God’s sunrise was ever changing before me. Alone in my thoughts were the words. How do I know God was gifting me? Several hours later, my friend who was with me, shared the words of a coloring book page that just jumped out at her. As she started reading the first 3 words, I yelled “Stop!
Those are the words to the hymn that I was singing at 5:30 this morning!”
All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
O praise Him, O praise him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in heav’n along.
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
Ye lights of ev’ning find a voice!
O praise Him, O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Those two verses were the ones that kept playing in my mind that morning while I was watching the sunrise alone. But I was not really alone, I had my amazing, wonderful
Father who created all this just for me. What a God we have!
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