--PRAYERS ON THE BEACH [LA PLAYA] ~~

--"Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted. [PSALM 148:13] --

---During a trip to celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary, my husband and I read our Bibles on the beach. As vendors passed and called out the prices of their wares, we thanked each one but didn't buy anything. One vendor, Fernando, smiled wide at my rejection and insisted we consider buying gifts for friends. After I declined his invitation, Fernando packed up and began walking away...still grinning. "I pray God will bless your day," I said.

Fernando turned toward me and said, "He has! Jesus changed my life." Fernando knelt between our chairs. "I feel His presence here." He then shared how God had delivered him from drug and alcohol abuse more than fourteen years earlier.

My tears flowed as he recited entire poems from the book of Psalms and prayed for us. Together, we praised God and rejoiced in His presence...on la playa .

Psalm 148 is a prayer of praise. The psalmist encourages all of creation to "praise the name of the LORD, for at his command [everything was] created" (v.5), "for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens" (v.13).

Though God invites us to bring our needs before Him and trust He hears and cares for us, He also delights in prayers of grateful praise wherever we are. Even on the beach. If we go back to this place and see Fernando again, we will know him. Most importantly, Jehovah Yahweh, YHWH knows him by name.

--ODB/XD~
" Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. The very hairs of your head are numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows. Therefor everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." --[Matthew 10:29 thru 33].

--"Just Be" (lyrics) Kim Walker-Smith //<https://youtu.be/1G8KVJBLwtg>
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