The Rest of the Day's Story

Just after I finished writing the first post this morning, I opened my Bible to Romans 8 where I have been camped out for awhile. A new thought raced across my mind and I decided to try something that I seldom do and don't usually enjoy when others try to get groups of people to do in a meeting. As I looked at the various verses in the last half of the chapter I began to read them while inserting my name into each place where it could fit. the effect on me was immediate, surprising and overwhelming as I read "what shall we say to these things? If God is for Floyd, who is against him? God who did not spare His own Son, Jesus, but delivered Him over for Floyd, how will He not also with Jesus freely give Floyd all things? Whe will bring a charge against God's elect - Floyd? God is the one who justifies Floyd!" At this point I was in tears as the reality of God's word began to have a deeper affect on my heart than it has before. I moved back up to verse 26 and started over putting my name in at every opportunity. This is perfectly legitimate, accurate and even necessary if we are to make the Word of God come alive in our hearts. In addition I began to read it out loud so that my own ears could hear the words and register them even deeper. Suddenly I heard my daughter returning to the house unexpectedly. She had just left for school and we knew there were problems with her car (the second one) overheating from the night before. I quickly wiped away my tears and she exploded into the room in frustration with everything that seemed to be going wrong. It was snowing heavy in the middle of April (not welcome at this time of year), we were already having to replace the transmission on her other car (for the second time in as many weeks) and now this car was severely overheating just a mile from home and she was now late for school. Would I please take her to school? We got into my van and as we made the half hour trip to school she continued to vent. I began to realize one important reason God had sent His presence to me so strong this morning and so early - He knew what was coming and that I needed His Spirit inside me. I kept reminding myself of the things my heart had just experienced and chose to continue to hang on to that reality instead of reacting with irritation at being dumped on by seemingly pointless anger that would do nothing to fix a car. I could begin to see that this day was not going to be average and I began to plan what had to be done. My daughter needed transportation at least four times during the day at a considerable distance from where we are living. I solicited the help of two of my nieces to run shuttles for her while I limped the car through the cold and snow to the mechanic in the next town to get a new water pump. Later in the day the mechanic called to inform me that we had a lot bigger problem than a bad water pump - the head gasket was now blown and the car may not be worth fixing at 21 years old. It also needs new front wheel bearings and new struts as well. So I asked him to speed up the installation of the transmission on the other car which was already waiting at his shop for repair. Again I was tempted to give in to frustration and questions about why all this is happening to us seemingly designed to siphon off all our income. But God has been talking a lot to me over the past months and years and keeps reminding me that I need to mature past that kind of pointless and harmful thinking. I remember that I am in relationship with One who has promised and committed Himself to taking care of me. What He wants is for me to trust Him enough when the pressure is on that others can notice a difference in my attitude and my refusal to live in fear. I want to be more like the simple birds who trust their Maker so implicitly that they can sing praises to Him all day long and simply gather the food He provides for them without worry. "Are you not worth more than many sparrows?"