Prepare

This year is already off to a fast start.  Here I am just catching up with some writing, as I am sure many of you are getting back to scheduled itineraries and routines as well.  Mel and I had gone to San Antonio for the last seasonal longhorn game, finally a good game,  then drove on to Austin and there we were going to spend a couple of days and see the New Year in.  On New Years eve, Mel walked downstairs to our bottom floor, only to find that when he stepped down off of the last step to the floor, he was immersed in water. A connection to the toilet from the wall had come loose and had been running long enough to flood the entire floor, closets and all.  Just one of those things that happens that you are never prepared for.

There were blessings everywhere surrounding the incident but you had to dig a little to find them while in the midst of shock. Some of the obvious ones being: the water was clean,  we were there, it was fixable,  it wasn’t someone’s health or a tragedy, and one mostly to my advantage was that Mel, my husband is a most wonderful manager and the ball of damage control and restoration was in his court.  I didn’t go down there for three days, and when I did it, water had been extracted, baseboards removed, and blowers and humidifiers had been positioned to activate the drying process.  The process was under control. 

We never know what God is going to allow to happen in our lives on any given day, but the unexpected will eventually hit all of us in some way or another. And the question at hand is are we prepared?  We cannot prepare for the actual event or incident but we can be prepared in heart and attitude when one of those blazing arrows is shot our way.  And one thing we have to consider first is that God has got our back.  He controls the master switchboard, activating and allowing the occurrences that are heading towards us, and the ones that are before us and around us, and the remnants of those that have past. If we get a stronghold on that one belief, the steps that follow will roll on the track of his will and our peace.

It isn’t easy to trust God when things around us are crashing down, but that very trust is the adhesive that keeps us stuck on/to God’s truth and promises.  He never promised life as a Christian would be easy and without blemish, pain and suffering,  inconvenience and heartbreak, but what he has promised is that in every situation we would never have to go at it or through it alone. 

His presence is always with us, and God will provide the tools and the people to help get us manage a crisis, be it personal or material, big or small, devastating or mildly insignificant.  He comforts us in our pain, strengthens us in our weakness,  gives us courage to face our fears,  and confidence through our faithful recognition of his power. 

This was a mild inconvenience compared to the hardships that so many are enduring on a daily basis. But nevertheless it was an unexpected dilemma that had to be dealt with immediately. Around every situation there is a bounty of blessings many times hidden too deeply to recover or recognize at the time but if we look closely and openly we will find that God is working, sometimes on us and sometimes he is using our faithful response to the unexpected as a window for others to be able to see him. When we truly realize that God is not in the shadows, but that he is very much in the center of our every life moment, we will be prepared when the unexpected hits. We will be able to faithfully hold tight to the promises that we are not alone and God will hold our hand as we trudge through the darkness that has come and has flooded the floors of our consciousness. Help is on the way, hope is blowing through and as always, God has got the process of his will under control.

2 Timothy 4:2

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

1 Peter 3:15

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Matthew 28:20

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Dear Lord, We know that the unexpected will come our way at some point, and probably has for most of us already, and it will come again.  Help us to be prepared in our faithful recognition that you are in control and nothing is too hard for your to manage for your purposes.  Give us hope when we are discouraged, help when we are weakened, faith when we are doubting, and a renewed belief deep in our soul that your presence is indeed one that we can always count on.  Amen      

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!