Almost 2 weeks ago my sweet husband took the family to the beaches of San Destin during Kyra's first school break. That Sunday, vacation or not, I was up early grabbed my Bible, devotions and cup a Joe then headed for the beach. 
The gulf waves were on the rise as the effects of Gustaf were already being felt. I was virtually alone except for some surfers here and there, shell gathers, occasional joggers, and various hotel staff setting up loungers and umbrellas for the day.
It was good! Very, very GOOD!
I could not have been more blessed...or so I thought.
As I sat immersed in the Word simultaneously sending up prayer and praise a crowd converged on the beach.
My savored solitude with God was suddenly disturbed by a mass of humanity that came seemingly out of nowhere.
My first concerns were that something was wrong. Was there a surfer or swimmer caught up in these bustling morning waters? Someone hurt or drowning?
As the crowd kept growing I gave up trying to ignore the activity and headed to where the action was.
As I moved through the crowd, I saw a good half dozen people in black wet suits standing in the ocean, as the rough morning waves beat upon their backs.
Before long others were headed out to meet them.
I leaned into some of the other witnesses and ask what was going on.
"Baptisms. There are 40 people being Baptized here today."
Seems it had been planned for that evening, but with hurricane weather concerns they moved it up to morning...this particular morning.
At my home church, we have a lot of Baptisms and I never fail to be deeply moved as each soul makes this public statement of faith. I find myself compelled to cover each one in prayer while praising God for His grace and mercy....Baptisms never fail to send me to another level of rejoicing!!
And there on that beach, that morning God just rained down blessings as only He can, allowing me the honor of witnessing this particular glorious event.
As I stood there weeping struggling to snap photos (way too good not to share!) my heart about to bust out of my chest....Oh the glory! Oh the testimony! God just blew me away!!
I went to the beach to meet Him and boy did HE show up!
Isn't He good?
7 comments:
Hi! I'm here via Patty. :)
This post and these pictures have tears running down my face. That is so beautiful! God did show up on that beach!!
Have a blessed weekend!
stephanie
Oh Tammy!
Those pictures are amazing!
I sit here with tears in my eyes as I think of those 40 people who were so excited to be baptized that they braved the ocean water to do it!
AMAZING!
God is so good!
Blessings
Kim
Tammy,
This is such a blessing to get to see the precious people who were baptized that day, right there in the ocean. Amazing!! What a delight God gave you and I am so happy that you shared with us. AND all of heaven was rejoicing right along with you.
Praying you have a great weekend!!
Love,
Patty
p.s. how is Elizabeth doing?
Oh my goodness this post is so wonderful!! PRAISE GOD!!!
And I wish I could have gone to the beach and set on the sand with you while we read our bibles and prayed and wrote JESUS in the sand. I promise I would not have disturbed your time with the Lord =) I am a no talking person until I have been in the word believe it or not. A bit of legalism some would think but I have to study Gods word and go to Him before anything else. I love you so!!
Beautiful moments, Tammy. Thanks for taking the pictures and sharing this with us. It blesses me to see the beautiful testimony of faith - not even a hurricane can disuade a heart fully committed to proclaiming the glory of God!
Great stuff, Tammy. Blessings.
Thanks for sharing this awesome memory with us! What a beautiful sight, with God's artwork in the sky!!
It's really an amazing scene! We've seen some great skies waiting for Ike to come in and now that he's passed, the sunset was a picture for sure. (of course, I didn't have my camera!)
Bobbie
How beautiful!!
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