Maybe a Dugong sucked them clean...

We returned to this beautiful place where we’ve watched dugongs pop their heads up as they forage around rocks and mangroves, a place where we captured some spectacular sunrise images a couple of days ago.

I was to learn later that as we headed out this morning to wait for sunrise, Col prayed ‘Lord, I need to find my thongs’. The thongs he was referring to were his favourite pair of Havaianas thongs (sandals) he’d lost in the mud when we were here two days earlier.

He lost them when he was 100 metres out from the rocks at low tide. His feet sunk into deep mud and when he pulled them out, both of his thongs stayed in the mud so he decided they were in too deep to retrieve.

But God cares about the little things that concern us and within a couple of minutes of praying that simple prayer, he miraculously found one of his thongs just lying upside down on sand within rocks close to him!

He happily looked around the area for the second thong but couldn’t find it so he prayed again ‘Lord help me find the other one’, but after looking without finding it he decided the chances of finding the other one were one in a million and he gave up his search.

An hour and a half later after another gorgeous sunrise was captured – see here, on his walk back to our van to cook breakfast Col found his second thong at his feet, upside down on the sand between the rocks! This thong was laying 50 metres further down the beach from where he found the first one and he had forgotten about it so he wasn’t even looking!

What are the chances of ‘walking into’ two thongs in two different locations on a very long beach with so many rocks? Tides have come and gone over two days, tides that go out for kilometres here in Clairview. With mangroves all along the foreshore, these thongs could have floated off to the horizon in any direction. They miraculously released themselves from thick clay and floated to shore, just near where we stop to photograph sunrise!

Col even gave up on finding his second thong but he’d asked God for help and God didn’t stop caring about his request.

The Bible says that’s because:
If we give up on him, he does not give up – for there’s no way he can be false to himself.
2 Timothy 2:13 (The Message)

That they would float up from deep mud to wait for us to return from a journey 3 hours north is amazing, especially when others used this beach while we were away … but there’s more.

The grey clay that covered Col when he got stuck took some washing off but these thongs were completely clean when they returned!

God doesn’t just give us what we ask but He exceeds our expectations and gives us more than we needed when we put our whole life into His hands! Turning your life over to give God full control may seem daunting to you, but God gave us this experience so we can show how much He cares about you and how trusting in Him really does work!

In the Bible, God says:
No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it – What God has arranged for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 (The Message)

Here’s what Jesus said:
Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good things must I do to have eternal life?”
“Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “Only God is good. But to answer your question, you can receive eternal life if you keep the commandments.”
Which ones?" the man asked. And Jesus replied:
‘Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not testify falsely. Honour your father and mother. Love your neighbour as yourself.’
“I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”
Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
But when the young man heard this, he went sadly away because he had many possessions.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
I say it again — it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get out of it?”
And Jesus replied, "I assure you that when I, the Son of Man, sit upon my glorious throne in the Kingdom, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will have eternal life.
But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then. Matthew 19:16-30 (New Living Translation)

Here is a picture of the area he was searching – like trying to find a needle in a haystack..

This isn’t the first time God’s done something like this for us – see here MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE

Please share this message and do your part to help advance the Kingdom of Heaven!

© Copyright 2013 Elaine Costin All Rights Reserved