I have recently been keenly reminded of what I've known all along, that after almost 50 years of being a follower of Jesus, my feelings/emotions are still very much controlled by my circumstances. I have probably given more than one sermon in my life about not allowing our circumstances to control our emotions and being joyful in all situations, but...it just somehow doesn't compute in this stubborn old brain of mine. Here's the recent scenario that has brought this to light in a poignant way:
It was a very hot, humid morning and my teammate & I decided we'd go over to the guest apartments and get them ready for our upcoming short term team. We would wipe out all the new wardrobes we'd just purchased and make a list of other things we still needed to buy. Upon opening the first wardrobe, we discovered that tiny black termites had completely destroyed it, leaving piles of sawdust in every corner and covering the floor underneath. They had even found their way across the room and begun to destroy the bedside table also! They were threatening to eat our brand new wooden beds which fortunately my husband had varnished, making it more difficult for them to attack. (although the varnished wardrobes did not deter them one bit) We swept out the piles of sawdust made by these monsters and sprayed relentlessly. We then went to the next apartment and sure enough, the same thing all over again, even worse! By now we were drenched in sweat and feeling quite debilitated. Knowing that it's almost impossible to get anything replaced in this country and having very limited funds, we were depressed to say the least. After cleaning out all 3 wardrobes and using up 3 cans of bug spray, we left without having accomplished much else. I felt downhearted and depressed the rest of the day. On top of that, none of the ATM machines worked in our town and we were totally out of money. You have to drive 10 km to even find a machine so that's a lot of wasted time. So that was my bad, horrible, good-for-nothing day and I felt depressed. Today, I left home before 8AM to beat the crowds in town. I went to the ATM machine first and it worked! I got all of my money and went to the phone company to pay my bill. That also worked like it's supposed to. On the way home, I decided to stop at a butcher shop that I've seen many times and wondered if it would have the meat we wanted. Getting beef in our town is nigh unto impossible. The shop was clean and air conditioned. The butcher was very kind and gave me 2 kilos of beautiful ground beef. He also gave me his phone number and said to call him ahead of time and he'd have my order ready for me, even filets or steaks or anything I wanted. Oh, this was turning out to be a joyous day. My spirits were soaring by now. I was 3 for 3! Upon returning home, I was able to get lots of important little things done at my desk and around the house, had a lovely cup of coffee and now I am off to the beach to celebrate my happy day with sweet Kali, an 18 year old intern who's living with us this year.
I'm sure I will give the "rejoice in all circumstances" sermon again and I will be preaching mostly to myself, because I still haven't learned this lesson but as long as there's breath, there's still hope, right? Oh Lord, help me to learn that you are good and you are God in the good times and in the bad!
It was a very hot, humid morning and my teammate & I decided we'd go over to the guest apartments and get them ready for our upcoming short term team. We would wipe out all the new wardrobes we'd just purchased and make a list of other things we still needed to buy. Upon opening the first wardrobe, we discovered that tiny black termites had completely destroyed it, leaving piles of sawdust in every corner and covering the floor underneath. They had even found their way across the room and begun to destroy the bedside table also! They were threatening to eat our brand new wooden beds which fortunately my husband had varnished, making it more difficult for them to attack. (although the varnished wardrobes did not deter them one bit) We swept out the piles of sawdust made by these monsters and sprayed relentlessly. We then went to the next apartment and sure enough, the same thing all over again, even worse! By now we were drenched in sweat and feeling quite debilitated. Knowing that it's almost impossible to get anything replaced in this country and having very limited funds, we were depressed to say the least. After cleaning out all 3 wardrobes and using up 3 cans of bug spray, we left without having accomplished much else. I felt downhearted and depressed the rest of the day. On top of that, none of the ATM machines worked in our town and we were totally out of money. You have to drive 10 km to even find a machine so that's a lot of wasted time. So that was my bad, horrible, good-for-nothing day and I felt depressed. Today, I left home before 8AM to beat the crowds in town. I went to the ATM machine first and it worked! I got all of my money and went to the phone company to pay my bill. That also worked like it's supposed to. On the way home, I decided to stop at a butcher shop that I've seen many times and wondered if it would have the meat we wanted. Getting beef in our town is nigh unto impossible. The shop was clean and air conditioned. The butcher was very kind and gave me 2 kilos of beautiful ground beef. He also gave me his phone number and said to call him ahead of time and he'd have my order ready for me, even filets or steaks or anything I wanted. Oh, this was turning out to be a joyous day. My spirits were soaring by now. I was 3 for 3! Upon returning home, I was able to get lots of important little things done at my desk and around the house, had a lovely cup of coffee and now I am off to the beach to celebrate my happy day with sweet Kali, an 18 year old intern who's living with us this year.
I'm sure I will give the "rejoice in all circumstances" sermon again and I will be preaching mostly to myself, because I still haven't learned this lesson but as long as there's breath, there's still hope, right? Oh Lord, help me to learn that you are good and you are God in the good times and in the bad!
3 comments:
Glad for the good day after the hard one. Glad, too, for the time at the beach. We are on our knees with you!
We stand with you - and are grateful for you!
I'd like to ask why certain things have been created; things like mosquitoes and termites. I see no purpose for either. Very sorry to read what has happened and will be expecting more $ to come in for replacing those that were damaged.
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