Yesterday, I shared about how God put on my heart to guard my spirit with protective walls, which will prevent defeat when I'm provoked.
So... I went to bed at a reasonable hour, read my bible and prayed in the morning, while the kids were still in bed and quiet and made sure I had breakfast early enough. Sigh... provoked I was, but I was victorious all day. Tonight, I started getting tired so I was getting wearing and my city walls were not so strong.
What happened? The list is long and I could not express it in a way that would demonstrate the level of needed prayer which had to be done, but here is the list.
I had my day all planned out (mistake number 1, Psalm 27:1 says, "Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knoweth not what a day may bring forth." Boy! Was God every right!
It was 8:30 and we had all eaten breakfast, my three baskets of laundry were brought into the van with all the hairdo stuff for after our baths/showers. You see, we have no running water in the RV and no facility to actually take a shower or bath in the house so we go to my moms, plus we wash there.
I had read Proverbs 9 this morning and "wisdom buildeth her house" she prepared things in advance so this was my goal for the day; to be prudent, wise and organised. (that rhymes hee hee).
We were ready to leave, the kids still in the RV, but I wanted to scrape the windows and warm up the van because from what I understand, it was -24 C this morning. I tried to start the van but it did nothing. I tried again and again but to no avail. I decided to be handy and plug the van and let it sit for a while.
We sat in the RV, waiting and waiting. The children became more and more antsy so I went to try the van again. Still nothing. I thought maybe the battery was dead, although I could see no reason why it should.
At the end of our driveway, sits an old green van, full of stuff with no seats. I started that one up with much effort, backed it up, without cleaning the windows, and turned it around to boost the newer van.
Nothing happened.
I decided to bring in the school things and do school and maybe after school, which would be a couple of hours, the van might work. We thought maybe the starter was frozen. So I plugged up the van and we did school.
I tried the van one more time and still nothing.
Here we were, at 11:30 and we were still in our pyjamas because we were waiting to take our showers. I had at least 4 loads of wash to do since I had stripped all the beds and the sheets were in the van. I was sooo discouraged.
The kids were playing hide and go seek with me, but they didn't know I wasn't playing... yet. I sat on my bed and cried. I cried to the Lord and asked, "Why? Why is this happening? What's such the big deal about going to do laundry and washing that you can't let us go? I feel I can't learn more of this life in sacrifice thing. I can't do this anymore Lord!" I sat there and cried for a bit and realized that I could do this all day or just trust God and walk in His will.
I got dressed, walked over to the kitchen, had the children get dressed and went to start lunch. The day would go on and I would not be a spoil brat about it, no matter the challenge.
I was going to make carbohydrates... I mean macaroni for lunch... comfort food. :)
I went to turn on the propane burner... nothing; we were out of propane. .... "Man..."
I got dressed, in my faux fur and high heel boots, went outside and took out the empty propane tanks and put in the full ones. Came in and tried the burner again and voilà, there was a flame!
I made LOTS of macaroni with spaghetti sauce.
From then on, the day went pretty smoothly but needless to say, I bought myself a Tim Horton's coffee.
This morning, after I read and prayed, I said something very stupid. I said, to myself, "I wonder what I'm going to blog about tonight. Nothing special is happening with the renos." I guess the Lord didn't want me speechless. LOL
I then received an email from a friend at church and she always sends them JUST when I need them. I thought I'd share it with you.
Beautiful story.... makes you understand that things happen for a reason The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn , arrived in early October excited about their opportunities When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. T hey worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls,painting, etc, and on December 18were ahead of schedule and just about finished.On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. O n the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. T he pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. T hen he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. "Pastor,"she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria . When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again. T he pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;but she made the pastor keep it for the church.The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do.. She lived on the otherside of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike. H e told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. H e helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.True Story
Keep believing.
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