This day has not started out to be the best. I’m hoping that it will get better.
One thing that I notice is that when financially you are as tight as we are, it doesn’t take much to push you “over the edge”.
I should have checked, I know I should have checked, but I took for granted that Paul’s direct deposited paycheck would actually be in the bank (as it always is). After having mailed most of this week’s bills and paying one online, something made me think to go back and check our bank account online. The paycheck was never direct deposited. We’re still not sure what happened. Paul is checking it out today.
In the meantime, I have learned my lesson, I will never write bills out again without first making sure that the money is actually in my account. It is going to be a very messy, very hard lesson and one that we really couldn’t afford right now.
It always seems, at least in my life, when bad things happen, more bad things seem to happen. It’s hard to keep faith and know that the Lord sees it all and will hold us in His hand.
This morning, as I was feeling sorry for myself, a song that I listened to long ago came pouring back to my mind. I thought I would post just a portion of it here:
Let The Wind Blow!
Words by David Martin, performed by The Imperials
“There is lightning in the distance
Oh let the wind blow
There is darkness all around me
Oh let the wind blow
Let the world give all the hurt it can
Let the evil one devise his plans
I’m trusting in the great I Am
Let the wind blow
Let the wind blow
Blow as hard as it can
Let the wind blow
Upon the solid rock of God I stand
Oh let the wind blow
There’s a storm on the horizon
Oh let the wind blow
There is thunder in the heavens
Oh let the wind blow
Let its mighty fury be unleashed
Let the doubters fall upon their knees
I’m trusting in the prince of peace
Let the wind blow”
It is in the worst of times that we grow the most. We have to learn to take the times and situations that face us and respond by always placing our faith in Him. I am reminded, especially today, that this is never easy. I am the world’s worst to panic and let fear and frustration overtake me.
This is a lesson we all have to learn. We have to learn to put our faith and trust in Him, even when we don’t understand why bad things happen. (There are only so many times I have to be beaten over the head to learn this lesson…though maybe more than most!) 🙂
I am still learning. In Scripture, Paul speaks of battling his flesh over and over. He says:
Romans 7:15-25
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do– this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God– through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
(NIV)
I know that even though these wars wage in my mind, I already have victory over them through my Lord.
I started this web site, not as a place for you to read about a perfect mom in a perfect world, but so that somehow it would be a witness to the goodness of my Father.
So here it is, there is nothing more real than the financial struggles that I know I’m not alone in. “How would God be glorified in this you might ask?”, “How can you say that He has been good to you?”.
There are more reasons than I could ever be able to list but even in the midst of so much wrong here are a few…..
Today I’m Thankful For
Living and breathing and being blessed with another day to enjoy my children and my family and even the beautiful trees that He has given me to nourish and enrich my body and my world.
I’m thankful that even in tough times I have a hope that passes human understanding. A hope that transcends death. A hope that is never ending and never failing.
I’m thankful for the friends that are always such a blessing to me, both new and old.
I’m thankful that He breathes words into my heart that give me comfort and peace in the worst of times. Oh, that I would walk in His steps and speak in His words.
I am thankful that above all else, this world is imperfect and temporal. All of these things will soon pass as will the evil that seems so prevalent in this day.
I am thankful that the Lord already knew this situation and is already working it out, even though I may not know it’s ending or see it happening, it will.
“Dear Father, you are my hope…let it be never ending. Let me stand on the solid rock that is Your promise and then let the wind blow.”
I know that it is a departure from the normal layout, please indulge me with one additional song lyric….
God Is In Control by Twila Paris
This is no time for fear
This is a time for faith and determination
Don’t lose the vision here
Carried away by the motion
Hold on to all that you hide in your heart
There is one thing that has always been true
It holds the world together
Chorus
God is in Control
We believe that His children will not be forsaken
God is in Control
We will choose to remember and never be shaken
There is no power above or beside Him
We know, ohh, God is in Control
Ohh, God is in Control
History marches on
There is a bottom line drawn across the ages
Culture can make it’s plan
Oh but the line never changes
No matter how the deception may fly
There is one thing that has always been true
It will be true forever
Chorus
He has never let you down
Why start to worry now
Why start to worry now
He is still the Lord of all we see
And he is still the loving Father
Watching over you and me
Watching over you
Watching over me
Watching over everything
Watching over you
Watching over me
Watching over you
Every little sparrow
Every little thing
Chorus
Today’s Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray for Roberta…the praise is that she has gotten good news on some of her test results but is still waiting for others.
Please pray for our family and our finances…we’re waiting on our miracle! 🙂
Even more so, today is the day that Nate and Nayda are having to face the unimaginable pain of a funeral for their very first little baby. Please pray that God would cradle them in His arms today.
Today’s Scripture Meditation
Ps 91:14-15
“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”
(NIV)
That I May Be Found Faithful,
