God speaks to us in so many ways and through so many things. While in Vietnam my team and I had the privilege to go to the beach. By the end of the weekend we couldn’t stop talking about how God used the beach to speak to each of our hearts. We all had different examples but each one of them pointed to His infinite and powerful love.
God speaks through…
A SUNRISE by Kayla
One of my favorite things to do at the beach is to watch the sunrise. I love the subtle colors, the cool breeze, and the stillness of the morning. I convinced most of the team to wake up at 4:30 with me to watch the sunrise. Before we even made it to the beach, I knew that “stillness” would not fit this experience. There were more people in the darkness exercising, swimming, and hunting crabs than during the day. We sat on a ledge waiting for the sun to rise. We were waiting for over an hour, and there was nothing but gray clouds. No stillness, no subtle colors. We walked around and enjoyed our time, but it was nothing like we expected. As we were getting ready to walk back to the hotel (to go back to bed), a beautiful beam of light burst through the clouds. What a reminder of the Lord’s goodness and love! His love shines through even the darkest and cloudiest times. Right when we were ready to give up, we saw what we were looking for. How many times do we get frustrated when things don’t go as planned? How many times have we almost quit right before we succeeded? The Lord doesn’t fit in a box. He often works things out differently than we expect because His thoughts are higher than ours. His love is moving all throughout our lives, even when we can’t see it.
THE VASTNESS by Stephanie
Few things in the world make me feel as tiny as the ocean. It covers over 70% of the entire earth. Y’all that’s a lot of water!! And God is infinitely bigger! When I consider how huge God really is, I just fall to my knees in awe.
Who else has held the oceans in his hands? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Isaiah 40:12
That same God– who created the heavens and the earth–not only created every detail of us, but he desperately wants to be with us. His love for us is deeper than any ocean. He cares about even our tiniest thoughts. How cool is that?!
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
THE WAVES by Mikayla
Whenever I’m at the beach, I just get WRECKED in God’s overwhelming love for me. I see the waves crashing the shore and it points me to the relentless, never-ending love of God.
THINK ABOUT IT.
Waves are constantly crashing onto the shore. On a happy, sunny day, it’s so easy to enjoy basking in the sun and looking at the beautiful waves. You sprint into the water like a child crashing headfirst into the first wave and laughing for joy!! When you’re swimming in the ocean, the waves are constantly surrounding you and pursuing you, no matter where you are in the water. On a calm, sunny day, it may be easy to forget that the waves are even crashing the shore.
On a stormy day, the waves are crashing the shore EVEN HARDER. Fiercely pursuing, with so much strength. Those are often the days that you don’t want to get into the water; the days that you don’t even want to go outside.
I just LOVE that picture of God’s love! It’s ALWAYS pursuing us! And on the stormy days, he is pursuing us harder than ever! That’s insane to me: that God never leaves us in the dust when we’re struggling. He’s right there with a love SO STRONG that if we actually let it into our lives, it will flood us and change us and comfort us. A love so strong that has the ability to COVER US COMPLETELY.
A SUNBURN by Grace
Think about the sun. We alllll got so excited for this weekend. We were going to the BEACH and gonna get our tan onnnn. We look to the sun with expectation of loving us well and turning our opec skin to nicely bronzed (or for me..nice and RED!) I spent allllll day in the water having FUN! I had thoughts of “aw, man. I should definitely take some time to actually LAY OUT so I can be MAKE SURE to get the necessary quantity of rays.” But I was just having so much fun, laughing and just getting carried away (literally) in the waves! I think that can often times sum up my relationship with God too. “Okay, I need to wake up early, and read for about an hour and pray for another hour…” Just to get my adequate time in His love. Now, don’t miss what I’m saying I NEED this schedule-like time with the Lord personally to start my day off right and just be able to FUNCTION. But I think I can forget that He’s in legitimately every moment. He loves to have fun and laugh with us and carry us away in the daunting reality of His creation and greatness. I may not realize how hot and scorching the sun is while I’m in the water, but man, that doesn’t change it’s impact that it has on me by default. I get out of the water changed, with a nice glow! Like God’s love, I don’t always realize it beating down on me, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is. That it changes me continually.
THE CRABS by Caleigh
Spending time at the beach is my jam! It has always been my “happy place;” the place I go when I just need to pause… to breathe in and think about all that God is doing and breathe out any fear, confusion, or straight up stress. I’m not sure what it is about being at the beach or nature in general but it is easier for me to reflect on what God’s doing in my life and what He has done.
— Hustle and bustle set aside, just Him and I. —
On this particular trip to the beach God spoke to me through crabs. Yup.. you read that right. Sand Bubbler Crabs to be exact!
These little crabs covered the beach with tiny balls of sand. At the time I had no clue why but I was beyond fascinated just watching them. Maybe it was there efficiency and speed despite there small size. I’m not kidding you when I say the beach was covered with them!
Anyways, these stinkin’ crabs led me to Matthew 6 where Jesus talks about the birds of the sky. He reminds the people that they don’t need to worry about what they will wear or what they will eat… they don’t need to worry about anything. He points out that even the birds don’t have to stress about what they will eat or where they will find shelter because God provides. Then Jesus goes on to say that we are far more important than birds. I’d like to think the same is true in this ‘scenario’ too. 😉
After getting back to our hostel I did a little research on these crabs and found out that they dig these holes, eat microscopic amounts of food, put the excess sand into little spheres and push them to the side.
God cares about these itty bitty crabs. He provides food for them and shelter, and makes it so they are able to survive in both land and water. Watching these crabs scurry across the beach reminded me that God cares about the details and that He will take care of us, just like He does birds of the air, crabs on the beach, and the rest of His beautiful creation. Who would have thought that God could use tiny Sand Bubbler Crabs to remind me that He provides, He cares, and that I don’t need to worry because He’s got my back.
THE SAND by Caitlin
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me.” Psalm 139:17-18
God’s love simply cannot be fully measured or really adequately explained. It is vast beyond measure. Have you ever tried to count the grains of sand on the seashore? Just trying to count the grains that you scoop in your hand alone is incomprehensible and impossible.
According to Google, there are roughly 7,500,000,000,000,000,000 grains of sand in all the world’s beaches. And that is a rough average. But just taking that number, and realizing that God has way more good thoughts about His creation. I can’t even read that number, and God has more thoughts than that about ME… about YOU! He knows everything about me, yet thinks so highly of me. I think it’s because God sees His children with eyes of love. I’m so thankful His love isn’t based on my behavior or my ability. It’s who He is. God is Love. He doesn’t think thoughts of condemnation or judgement… but absolute love and adoration.
Friends, you are so deeply loved. The Creator of this Universe sees you, knows your name, and thinks you are to die for. He is always thinking about you!
