Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Joy Challenge - Day 20 - Joy?



I just watched as our pretty new car rolled out of our driveway on the back of a flatbed truck. I felt so sad. Isn't it funny the way we attach human qualities to inanimate objects?

Some very thoughtless person lost some of the cinder blocks from the load he was carrying and left them lying in the road. They were there, just around the bend in the road, when my husband was driving home, having delivered some things to my Mom and Dad. He did his best to avoid them but it was impossible. He rode over one causing damage to the undercarriage of the car. The transmission panel is dented and apparently this is something serious and has the potential to cause serious damage to the transmission if you drive the car. Hence the flatbed truck.

I confess that my normal reaction to things like this is to get very upset and begin to think of all the problems it will cause, and why did this have to happen to our new car, and how much will it cost, and how will we do all the things we need to do this week, and now we will have to rent a car, on and on and on.

However, I just "happen" to be writing about joy, and I just "happen" to be working on a Bible study lesson on attitude - complaining in particular - this week. When I caught myself slipping into my usual fretful mode of operation, I actually stopped to consider the things the Lord has been teaching me. I prayed for forgiveness for the mental complaining I'd already done and asked the Lord to give me joy in these circumstances. I began to thank Him for all the things He has already done for us and to ask for His help in having things run smoothly and remain affordable for us.

I hesitate to write about this because I am so far from being all the Lord would have me to be it makes me wonder at the grace He has poured into my life. I am not trying to set myself up as someone who has it all together. This is simply to say that when we take one baby step toward our Father, He is crouched down with arms extended urging us on and providing all that we need to make it the distance. When I did those simple things, He met me there. I felt His joy and peace. Oh, it isn't the dancing around laughing gaily sort of joy. It is a warm sense of His presence and a knowing that He hears and cares and will faithfully take care of us.

"But I trust in Your unfailing love, I will rejoice because You have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because He is good to me."
Psalm 13:5,6

Blessings,
Linda