Our first official beach day of the year came with gifts straight from heaven. It's amazing how God shows His attention to the details of our lives when we need to see and feel Him most. On this day, I was tired. I knew my heart needed a break from distractions so I deleted my IG, put my phone on silent and kept it out of sight. We were on the sand for hours, and I was sad. It was one of those days.
Around 3 p.m. the hunger set in so we drove to the next beach town over, Encinitas. We really love this place. The hippie vibes and unqiue eateries make it great. Walking around I spot
The Taco Stand. It looked good and surprisingly empty, and the outdoor seating seemed lovely, so G ordered carne asada fries and I got a couple tacos. Oh my goodness, it was beyond delicious, and I was thankful.
We went for a walk...about 10 minutes into it I realized I forgot my sunglasses in the bathroom so we turned around to see if they'd still be around. I didn't think so, but thought I'd try. I mean, I just found THOSE sunnies which I misplaced over a month before, that morning. As we approach the little restaurant the line out the door was 20 people deep. How could my glasses still be in this packed place with only one unisex bathroom? Well, they were there. A kind soul gave them to a waiter who saved it by the register for me. And I was grateful. I was so happy!
It was approaching 5 p.m. now but before getting ready to leave I wanted to get some coffee from a favorite coffee shop conveniently located at that beach town. I ordered my honey latte and read an email while waiting for G who left for a quick second. I didn't get the job. My dream job I had interviewed for 2 weeks before. My mom face-timed me the second I finished the email. Man, THAT was grace. She knew what to say and helped me process what just happened with all the love in the world. G and I walked hand in hand in disbelif. Now, I really didn't want to leave the beach. I needed to breath and watch the sea one more time. So we walked to the edge of the nearest cliff and watched.
No more than 5 minutes later, G saw them! A group of 6 or 7 dolphins jumping over the waves near the shore and we got to see them! They did flips and swam in sync for what felt like hours and it was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever seen. And that, that was my gift. I had been talking a few weeks before about how unbelievable it was that we had never seen dolphins at the beach because we are there so often. Some months we go every week, so never seeing them but knowing they were out there bothered me. But God knew when I needed to see those animals in real life, for the first time. On this day, He gave me the eyes to see. And I was thankful. So so thankful.
I don't want to live a distracted life, unaware of God's love in the details of my life. So I'm choosing to quiet my heart more, by Gods grace. Will you quiet your heart today? God gives us gifts that we may be too distracted to see in our everyday life of work, phone calls, IG and tweeting. But it doesn't mean He isn't giving.
Lord, help us to receive and see all that You're doing in and around our being. Amen.
