Alarm

I got the call mid morning...the housekeeper who was helping out in our place in Austin called and said the fire alarm was going off. They had already been working a couple of hours and then the alarm just randomly started....this was not the first time we had had a false alarm ...it had happened to our daughter Molly a couple of times as well when she had opened things up in the house. . Scared the daylights out of them....and then they wonder what they did wrong...and the answer is nothing! So I drove on up to Austin early this morning...and met with the alarm guy. The problem, he said is that he doesn't know which fire alarm was activated....and it is a shop in the dark to try to replace one without replacing them all. Well that gets into trouble....so based on what I heard on the phone when I was trying to walk my little housekeeper through the house...we changed the one that seemed to have been in the location where it was the the loudest. Cleaned the rest...adn notw we will wait and see....what happpens...if anything from now on!

Alarms...insurance rates encourage the use of them...but they can be a hassle especially if they are associated with a property outside of the bounds that you live. You have to try to tackle the problem long distance and with various phone calls to various people who know a bunch more than we do...but still have problems diagnosing the actual origin of the problem.

Sometimes we have alarms go off within us and just just come out of nowhere....the alarm of anger, fear, or hurt etc. They are seldom expected ...and tend to catch us off guard and send a message to our minds to "do something"...and do it quick! Adrenalin begins to pump...and before we know it we are lost in a battle that we some help fighting. We just want the peace...the quiet....and things back to a normal state...whatever that may be. There is help available...and we don't have to "find" the number or be put on hold or be transferred to someone who is better able to serve us....Jesus stands ready at all times...we just have set our minds to look up to Him... in faith. Faith that he does hear us when our alarms go off....faith that he does know how to deactivate them. Faith that he knows exactly where the origin of the problem lies...and faith that he can and will help us to overcome the blaring and sometimes frightening distraction that has come upon us.

Alarms can be activated by several things....intrusions, fire, dust, fumes...etc. Just as our alarms are activated....by distractions , by obstacles (trials) , by flying debris (words), interruptions, by something going awry with our plans, by tampered wires, by accumulated stuff and activities that bind our freedom to breathe etc. This is where Jesus can help us to diagnose the origin of our alarm...if only we call on him first. But too many times we get tangled up and flustered trying first of all to just silence whatever it is that is blaring within us...and then second of all choosing to try to deactivate something ourselves that we are not "versed" or "rehearsed" to know much about.

It all comes back to who is the one who knows all, is authority over all, sees all and is the ultimate conquer of all. It is Christ...and it is only when we settle in with him and do things through him that we can aptly apply what we can do becasue of Him. He settles our minds, and quiets our hearts and deactivates the
annoying alarm surges that catch us off guard.....and he does this when we merely ask Him "in faith" for His help. When we call for help...regarding anything, we call someone who we believe to be experienced...someone we can count on to help us "fix" something....Our God is there....faithful and ready and the best at what he does. No guessing ....only accomplished success. Yes, alarms will be deactivated upon his arrival...but we will sometimes it may take a little while to ...In the meantime...we can be assured that God is taking care of the problem...and next time something alarms us...we will have His built in code of reassurance, of love, of grace, of forgiveness...and of peace....

Mark 16:6
"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

It is alarming to think of life without Christ....I hope that today you too will realize the peace and the the deep deep love that is yours for the taking from Christ himself. He is there...for you and for me...each moment of each day...and having him as a constant companion, the "fixer" of anything and everything that may have gone haywire...in our lives.... is a blessing that we each can embrace.

Dear Lord, thank you for the continuous reminder that you are just a prayer away...not matter where I am or what I am dealing with. Amen

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

website:
www.cathyjodeit.com
email address: cjodeit@gmail.com
The blog link below has all devotionals from the beginning of the year:

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