It’s kind of
a standing joke between my husband and me.
If something goes wrong in the house, or with our kids, with appliances
even, and I question it, he says, “Well,
I don’t know what’s wrong, but I’m SURE it’s your fault!”. He knows me!
I have a
very sensitive conscience that slips easily into guilt. It doesn’t take a lot
to make me feel badly about something and it’s not uncommon for me to say, “I wonder if that (what I said, or
didn’t say, or what I did, or didn’t do)
was my fault.” Hence, the standing
joke.
I freely
admit I’m probably not really responsible for some of the things I’m perfectly
willing to own. However, just so you
know, there are plenty of things I AM responsible for that I’d rather NOT
own! But, I think what happened this
week was definitely MY fault!
A week ago
today we got hit with what the media was calling a ”Frankenstorm” since it hit
us just two days before Halloween. And a
Frankenstorm it was! It was a perfect
storm, converging three weather patterns over a area of 900 miles, and it wrought
terrible destruction. The Jersey shore,
our state’s pride and joy, was, as the governor described it,
“unrecognizable”.
One family we’ve heard
about has a summer house there and they were told they would not be able to
live in it for 2 years because the town’s infrastructure was wiped out. Locally, when it was safe, my husband and I
took a walk to find many downed trees and power lines and lots of people and
businesses without power.
For the last
week we’ve been living without power – no heat, no electricity, all our food
spoiled. It hasn’t been bad at all
really. We’ve kind of looked at it as an
adventure of sorts. And so many are in
worse straits. Apart from losing power,
all we had was a downed tree which thankfully fell across the yard and not on
the house.
So why am I
taking personal responsibility for this massive storm over which I had
absolutely NO control? Because of the
lesson in it that I needed to learn.
The Lord has
gifted me with a personality that enjoys its space. I enjoy people, but being with people
non-stop is exhausting for me. Every now
and then I crave solitude to recharge my batteries. I entered the fall with a
full plate of ministry responsibilities – weekly teaching assignments, a video
series to facilitate, work with youth. I
love doing ministry and know that the Lord has called me to teach, but I was
feeling a bit overwhelmed. When I did
have some quiet time, my brain preferred to veg out – on big doses of TV, and
solitaire on my computer.
Being busy
and feeling overwhelmed created my own “perfect storm”. Winds of busyness and stress took me further
and further from the peaceful and safe refuge of time with the Lord. Intellectually and spiritually, I KNOW that
this is a recipe for disaster. I’ve been
there before. Lack of connection with
the Lord through the reading of His Word and in prayer, will lead to powerless
teaching and lack of ability to hear Him when He desires to speak to me. I saw it coming, but it took a Frankenstorm
to get my attention.
For the last
week, without TV or internet connection to distract me, without ministry
responsibilities to prepare for, I have spent some wonderful time with the Lord
and regained my bearings.
And guess
what, He still speaks to me, so long as I take the time to listen. His power is back as well!
So, I thank
you Lord:
· For Frankenstorms that focus me back on you
· For the lack of TV and internet to distract me from you
· For the blessedness of knowing that YOUR power source is always available – I just need to plug in!
· For reminding me that YOU are the source of life and joy – no storm, no lack of creature comforts can EVER take that away
· For speaking “peace” in the midst of our storm – with your words, your presence, your comfort, your reminder that spiritual things are infinitely more important than temporal.
Thank you
for your faithfulness to keep this particular promise:
“For we know that in ALL things God
works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His
purpose.” Romans 8:28
No comments:
Post a Comment