If Only

It was an ordinary everyday errand and she stood at the gas pump, (Exxon on Chimney Rock and I 10) waiting for the tank to be refueled, keys in hand, also credit card case which was attached to the keys...she thought she heard a door shut but there was no one around. Then when she had gotten back to her car.....she KNEW...it was a door and it was hers. As she stood right there on the pump side of her car refueling...someone must have crawled to the car, entered her car via passenger door and stole her purse. This was my precious housekeeper who had just left my house and was headed home...but just one stop before she got on the freeway. If only...she had locked the doors...if only she had hidden her purse under the seat....if only she would have paid more attention to what she thought she heard...If only...if only.

We all have experienced the "if only's"....and the regrets that follow. I should have been more careful....I should have said this or not said that...or done this and not have done that. But aren't those hard lessons the ones we learn the most from. Or at least the ones that seem to linger about our thoughts....in earnest at first and then as time dwindles....we push them to a back burner...and until something similar happens again....they lie idle. It is in our everyday lessons that we so often times experience such great inconvenience and loss...not just loss of material items...but loss of health, loss of relationships, loss of trust, loss of confidence....and so on.

When something happens that jolts us...we are suddenly aware of our circumstances. Circumstances that we have taken for granted...or ignored, or things that we just expect to go right....and in a flash they go wrong....causing life around us to be confused and thrown in a chaotic state. There is no side stepping them from happening in their entirety but there is a way I have discovered for them to be put in perspective. It is though God. Seriously...God has a handle on these "if only" situations that we are lined up to be a part of....and with his help...we can avoid some of the pitfalls.

1) Start you day out with prayer...sounds simple enough but we have to remember to do it...ask God to partner up with you at the beginning of your day
2) Watch for ways to circumvent trouble. Look for signs...that will help to detour what is an obvious possible pothole
3) Learn to recognize and act on that unconscious little voice/thought that God uses to lead you... so many times we stuff it off as not being relative or even real....
4) Ask God for favor...not "a" favor...but favor....so that you can purposely go about what he has called you to do without distraction or interference
5) When you find yourself in a stumbled position....thinking "if only"...paste the lesson on your heart and incorporate it into your next venture...and then remember it again the next day and the next day...until it is not tangible enough to be on a back burner...for it has now been incorporated into everyday living pattern.

So many times we just want a rewind....maybe for a second...or an hour or a year...but there is nothing that we have done or that God has allowed to happen in any of our lives that he will not use and incorporate for His ultimate good. He erases our mistakes and our sins from his sight...we however store them away and often times go plundering back through those files of failure or regret...they are over...what is left is the lesson...and it can be a lesson that will ultimately get us just to where God wants us to be. We must be wise enough to ask God to show us His way...and obedient enough to follow it..

Provers 24: 14
Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:32
32 I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw

This story was about a purse being stolen...within feet of a person standing on the other side of a car....no one was hurt no lasting pain will incur but there are
consequences to every action...and every choice...there are often just a tremendous inconvenience but sometimes those choices we make are makers on someone else for a lifetime. If we make a conscious effort to include God at the very beginning of our day...and ask him to walk along side of us...he will....and he will help us to guard against some of the traps that we are so able to fall right into.

As a side note...I told you a story about falling last week...and the reason was that I was hurrying up to come back to the house and get something that I had forgotten....If Only....I had remembered in the first place...if only I would not have been in such a hurry...so I have asked God each time this week before I have walked out the door to help me remember what I need to have with me....It has been amazing....I know that sounds so silly...but he really has given me a nudge about this or that before I have walked out....and it has been really nice. The prayer was specific...if you want God to help you with something that
you continue to mess up with...ask HIM....specifically for help on that matter. It can be little or it can be big...He is ABLE to do it all...."IF ONLY" we will ask.

Dear Lord, Bless my friend who has had her purse stolen....and help her to manage through the inconveniences and the loss of the personal belongings that were in it. Help each of Lord to avoid the "if only" situations by coming to you each morning and seeking your lead....in what we do...in what we say...in how we treat others...and in how we go about our days. Thank you Lord, Amen


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

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www.cathyjodeit.com

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http://simplygod-cathy.blogspot.com/