How’s that for an intro to my first blog post in four and
half years? Things are inconvenient
right now, and frustratingly so. As it
would happen, yesterday’s First 5 devotion by Kayla Ferris was spot on. Here are a few bullet points from inconvenient
life this week:
- My electricity is out again, AND I’m the only house on my street without power.
- I just replaced the groceries that went bad in the first outage, and the new ones are now ruining.
- (Bonus Bullet Point) I ALSO BOUGHT ICE CREAM!
- The small trees partially blocking my driveway are still in my way.
- My lawn mowers haven’t shown up for three weeks.
"So let me esplain.
No, there is too much. Let me sum
up." Middle TN had a derecho Sunday night. I was lucky in that
my power was out for 12 hours only. That
was enough time for several new items to go bad (or iffy) in my fridge. The electricity went off and on several times
on Monday, but then it was steady through Wednesday morning. Mind you about 50,000 are still without
power, but I thought I was out of the woods.
My alarm system alerted me to a power outage while I was at
work yesterday morning. I got busy and
forgot to check back to see if/when the power was restored. Had I remembered to check my app; I wouldn’t
have gone to the store. I repurchased cheese, meat, a gallon of milk, and a dozen eggs, just to name a few
items. All those items are now warming in my fridge. I can’t bring myself to dwell on the mint chocolate chip ice cream.
I went to work today wearing a ball cap and straightened my
hair in my office. I should have waited to
put on make up as well. (Pro Tip:
Wait until you have proper lighting for makeup.
Applying concealer by flashlight is not a smart move.)
Then there are the small trees in my driveway…
The guy who was supposed to cut them down never showed up. That means I am creating a groove in the yard
off the side of the driveway each time I go around the trees. I will tackle cutting them myself. I should have done that in the first place.
The yard is another story.
I don’t have a lawn mower, and mowing is part of my contract. My yard looks like all those people waiting
for the hair salons to open up.
(Bonus, Bonus Bullet Point) My Fitbit
didn’t record ANY steps I took during my futile Kroger run yesterday. Not only did I walk around for 30 minutes gathering
items to throw away, but I didn’t get any “steps credit” to boot. It seems that if your hand is pushing a cart
it doesn’t count - literally. I’m sure I
would have logged 2,500 more steps, or maybe even 50,000 more. Once I realized it wasn’t counting my steps,
I attempted to push the mini-cart with one hand while swinging my Fitbit
arm. I looked rather flamboyant.
Today I will go back to the store to buy some things to put
in a cooler to tide me over during my Laura Ingalls period. This time I will get a handbasket so I won’t
look so conspicuous swinging my free arm.
All in all, each of these issues are first world problems. That doesn’t mean I’m happy about how some
things are playing out right now. God
and I have had many conversations about life recently. Life is NOT what I thought it would be. I do NOT like melted ice cream, nor several more
serious issues going on at this time.
But I choose to trust God. I didn’t
say I’m trusting Him to make things better, but I hope He will. I am trusting Him. I am trying to look at these things as invitations to participate in God's plan.It isn’t always easy, so Mark 9:24 is a recurring
prayer.
“…I do believe but help me overcome my
unbelief!”
God LOVES me. He
took care of my greatest need when He sent Jesus to save my soul.
So I’m well… even when I have to gut out my faith.
I hope anyone reading this is well. Please know you are always welcome to leave a happy note, funny anecdote, or prayer request.
