~When I met Christ, I felt that I had swallowed sunshine!~
~ E. Stanley Jones
What a JOY!
I still remember, clear as glass, laying out at my favorite spot on Fort Lauderdale beach.
It was April 2007, and as is customary for me to do on my days off, I was there to get my tan on.
I was elated! . . . once again I found myself a giddy little girl so in love with the very thought of being there–my most favorite place on earth. For me, the thrill of being at the beach is an excitement like none other.
There’s not much else this world can offer me that brings me the joy, peace, and level of relaxation that I get from a day at the beach.
To be in the presence of God’s beautiful creation is immensely rewarding in and of itself. His gifts of sun, breeze, sand, sky, water, vitamin D–grouped together with the wonderful scent of ocean air and tanning lotion are all worth the escape from the harsh reality of this world’s day-to-day mundane life.
While there, I find myself reading a book or my Bible, journaling, listening to my iPod, or just plain ol’ closing my eyes and taking a quick snooze.
The ocean didn’t interest me much that day, as I was more concerned with “working” on my tan. (It’s very hard work, you know!)
In that beautiful setting of huge, white cotton ball clouds set against a baby blue sky . . . I relish in the happiness that besets me.
The sun beamed down baking me to that just-oh-so-right perfect color. As the sweat beads rolled off of me, I realized that I was not only in all my glory, but that He was there–with me.
In awe of God’s presence, I can remember thinking about how much He LOVED me. I was immersed in my thoughts, and the tears of joy welled up as they sat on the ledges of my eyelids.
I sat up on my towel with chin pointed skyward, eyes closed, knees to chest, arms stretched behind me, and it was right then and there that the power of his love and his presence hit me.
I felt as if He leaned down from Heaven and planted His warm tender kisses on my forehead. Yes! I knew He delighted in how much JOY I found in His IMMENSE love for me.
I love the beach with the everso HOT sun beaming down on me , as my Loving Father gently and tenderly plants His sweet, sweet kisses on my forehead . . . it reminds me that life is going to be alright.
Take time to relish in His love for you, and see if you can get that special feeling of swallowing sunshine!
To know Him is to Love Him!
~♥~
Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun!
Ecclesiastes 11:7
~♥~
~God’s Gracie Girl~ ✿
♥ •.¸.•´♥ ¯`♥(❀◠‿◠)♥.¸¸.•´¯`•.♥
Psalm 113:3 ~ From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name is to be praised.
Psalm 113:4 ~ The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 ~ The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Psalm 74:16 ~ The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Psalm 84:11 ~ For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Isaiah 30:26 ~ Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
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Gracie Creswell ~♥ 