Even the Little Things.....

Hello again.

God is so good, and I am so blessed.

Those who know me, know I've traveled some very rocky roads in my life. And I'm on one of those roads now as I watch my daddy leave us a little each day as he resides in his new world of Alzheimer's. And one might ask, so how do you keep your head up? How do you keep your sanity? How do you keep from crying all the time?

My answer isn't easy to explain because it has to do with my belief system, and explaining my faith is difficult for me. Many feel that intelligent people can't have faith - they can't just believe something without understanding how it works. Well that's just nuts, because I know many very intelligent people of faith.

To the naysayers I respond "I don't understand how a plane stays in the air, but I fly on them". "I don't understand how electricity comes through the cables to my house to turn on my lights, but I flip that switch when it gets dark and I have light". That is faith.

When life throws us a curve we have two choices - deny it's happening, ask "why" hundreds of times, become depressed, become angry, wallow in self-pity (and the many other negative aspects that line of thinking produces); OR we can accept it without having to know why, understanding beyond any shadow of a doubt that God will get us through it.

Is that to say that during bad times in my life I don't cry, scream, ask "why", and have a pity party? Of course not! I do all of those things and more!! I get it out of my system, and God doesn't mind if we question. Actually, I believe He wants us to question because only when we seek do we find our way. Then I step back, get on my knees and pray, and I know - I KNOW - that NO MATTER WHAT, God will see me through this. Period. It's faith. If it could be explained and understood it would not be faith.

Matthew 6: 25 - 30 is the portion of the Sermon on the Mount that covers worry. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feed them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

God cares about the little things in our lives. Just yesterday my iPhone decided that it would not charge nor sync. Some would say that people with my limited knowledge of technology shouldn't even OWN an iPhone, and they would be correct. But my phone was a gift. An older model from my son when he upgraded. So, I find myself squarely in the 21st century and I have come to depend on said iPhone in a big way.

When the one trick I knew did not jolt (no pun intended) it into a charging mode, I googled (yes, I know how to do that) the situation and found I wasn't alone in this phenomenon. Apparently it happens frequently, but alas, the solutions I found did not work on my phone. Of course I had already prayed that God would fix the phone, or at least guide me to fix the phone. Sometimes God says "no", sometimes God says "wait".....both are still answers to prayer. So I went to bed after completely shutting my phone down for the millionth time.

My prayer as I lay in bed was "God, You know how many pictures are on my phone - that I haven't saved to the laptop. You know how many text messages that I've written/received and want to keep. You know how I've come to depend on the phone". As I drifted off to sleep, I heard Him say "Yes, Debi, I know all of that. And what is the worst thing that could happen if the phone never charges again"? And that's when I let it go - completely, let it go and rested peacefully.

This morning, I plugged in the phone and heard that wonderful, crazy sound of charging that it makes! And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God fixed my phone, but I also knew that even if He hadn't, the world would keep on spinning and I would keep on living.

He cares about everything that affects us -  small, big, medium sized  -  it doesn't matter. He cares about it all.

What I've learned is that even when things don't turn out the way we'd hoped, God is still there, He's still holding my hand, and He's still walking with me each and every step of the way.

My daddy will never again reside in the real world. His new address is in a world that I don't understand, nor do I understand why he had to travel to that world. So I will trust God to guide me into Daddy's world, so that I can still enjoy a relationship with him, and hopefully give him some happiness in his new world.

When life throws us curves, and it will, grab hold of God's hand and let Him guide us on the journey through. The outcome may not be the one we would have chosen, but I know for a fact that the journey will be filled with a peace that defies understanding when we allow God to come along with us. Yes, we may cry. Yes, we may scream. Yes, we will have questions. But, and it is an emphatic BUT, when we hold God's hand through it, we GET THROUGH IT.

Well, I'm off to sync the iPhone. :)

Have a great day everyone.

Until later.....

Debi

His Unfailing Love

So, okay - this is my first post.....to say I'm nervous would be the under statement of the century. However, I'm retired now, finally have my life in a manageable place, by the grace of God, and so here I go..........

One of the verses in one of my morning devotions last month was Psalm 143:8: "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul."

It jumped out at me so much, because I prayed a similar prayer on the night of January 16, 2010, during one of the most terrifying family crisis' I have faced. I cried out to God because I had no idea what to do next.

It is amazing and such a comfort to me that the things I feel are feelings already experienced by someone who lived centuries before me, and who with the inspiration from God wrote down what he felt so that on July 26, 2012, I could read it and have God speak to me in such a personal way again.

God is there in our darkest hour ready to bless us with His unfailing love. All we have to do is seek Him and He will walk with us every step of the way, carrying us when need be.

Praise be to God.

Until next time......

Debi