A Double Dose Day

May 14, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Ever have a double dose day? You know, a day when you get whammed with the same kind of problem not just once, but twice in the same day? Maybe your car breaks down, and then when you finally get home, your computer crashes. Or you discover your insurance is not going to cover a certain expense only to hear later in the day that your kid needs braces. We’ve all been there, haven’t we?

I got double-dosed on Monday. Not with mechanical or financial problems, but with disappointments. Granted, they were relatively minor when you consider major ones like a job loss or a failed marriage, but they were still disappointments I had to work through emotionally.

The first one came in the mail. You guessed it — a rejection letter. You would think after getting rejections for years now, one more wouldn’t bother me. None of them feel good, but this one hurt a little more. Probably because it was something I really wanted. So I let myself feel properly deflated for a bit but then just accepted that this, too, was in God’s hands, and He had brought about what was best.

The next dose of disappointment hit me after the 6 0’clock news when I realized that weather was going to play havoc with my plans to meet my daughters the following day for a fun day in T-town. The forecast for severe weather was nothing to ignore, especially following the killer storms that hit our region last Saturday. We all agreed we needed to postpone our plans.

That half of my double dose was the harder pill to swallow. We were all looking forward to our day together, plus I was thinking of it as a late Mother’s Day treat for me :) Because of scheduling conflicts, it will be June or July before we can shoot for it again, though Kristin and I hope to meet later in the week. But darn it all, it was supposed to be the three of us!

Even with this, I knew God was in charge. Since we were going to be helping Kelli car-shop for part of the day, maybe God knew this wasn’t the right time for her to buy a car. Or maybe He was preventing us from being in a car accident. Whatever the reason, I trusted God’s hand in it all.

I’ve got to admit, though, that I still felt blue — you know, felt the disappointment. And that’s normal, I think. Even in the midst of a double dose, I still found great comfort and peace in knowing I can trust God to work all things out for my good (see Romans 8:28). I love being able to rest in Him, to trust Him in everything.

How about you? Are you resting in Him? If not, I highly recommend it. There’s no better place to be.

Filed Under: family, frustration, rest, writing

Whose Time Is It Anyway?

February 17, 2008 by Leave a Comment

It happens to everybody. The frustration of lost time. Whether it’s projects or chores not going as planned and taking more time than anticipated or mistakes, delays, and interruptions actually stealing our time away, most of us deal with this challenge on a regular basis. The question becomes, “How do we handle it?”

I, for one, usually let myself get too irritated. Just the other day, I went from cool, calm, and collected to plenty aggravated after getting my mother-in-law to her doctor’s appointment just to find out that the doctor wasn’t in that day. Come to find out, someone had called and left a message with the wrong person.

On the surface, this may not seem like a big deal. But when you look at the bigger picture (this is just one of four doctors I have to take Don’s mom to see, we would have yet another appointment now, I already had medical appointments on two other days that week, plus it was only 23 degrees outside), it’s easy to see why aggravation was my natural response. I just hope I didn’t show it too much.

My mother-in-law’s easy-come, easy-go attitude about it all helped me keep my reaction in check. She had already been to the hospital three times that week for infusions and absolutely hated getting out in the cold, but she still managed an “oh well, it happens” kind of response. In fact, I should have been more upset for her sake than my own, but I’m afraid my feelings were more selfish than that. I hate to admit it, but it’s true.

Part of my frustration over lost time is probably just due to the way I’m wired. I’m a goal-oriented, organized, structured kind of gal. Flexibility is not my strong suit. (Okay, I can hear the “amens” from those of you who know me well!) Since rolling with the punches doesn’t come naturally for me, it takes conscious effort on my part when I’m met with these kinds of frustrating situations.

When my day isn’t going as planned, I try to remember a phrase from Psalm 31:15 that says “My times are in your hands…” Also in Jack Hayford’s book Praise in the Presence of God (which is a compilation of excerpts of his other books and is, by the way, on my list of “Books That Will Bless”), he suggests starting each day by saying something like “Lord, this day is Yours, and so am I.”

So now, I put both of those things together. Before ever getting out of bed, I try to start my day with the right attitude by praying, “Lord, this day is Yours, and so am I. My times are in Your hands.” It really does help me trust my day to the Lord and give my time to Him. I just need some reminders as the day goes on :)

**If you forgot to check for the winner of The Sweet Giveaway, check out the Happy Valentine’s post below to see who is in chocolate heaven :)

Filed Under: advice, frustration, help, prayer, time

O Little Town of…Cancellations?

December 12, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Old man winter showed up in force over the past few days across our portion of the Heartland in the form of an ice storm. In our community, we actually got off easy — we didn’t lose power. Yes, it did go off momentarily on Sunday, and at one point on Monday the lights dimmed. Thank goodness that was the extent of it. Those moments were enough to strike fear in my heart, though, as I thought of the prospect of no heat. When I woke up Monday morning, the first thing I thought was “we still have power — thank You, Lord!”

This kind of weather certainly plays havoc with our lives. Cancellations abound. All of our church services on Sunday were canceled — which means our choir didn’t get to do the cantata we had been working on for the past several weeks (it has been rescheduled for this Sunday, though). I had also spent time practicing for a trio number for Sunday morning. That one may have to wait for next Christmas. Classes on Monday were canceled at the college so that messed things up for Don. He was counting on getting in some more lecture time before finals started today. And to top things off, a fun Christmas outing I had planned with a friend had to be put on hold as well.

These cancellations were really relatively minor. At least our electricity wasn’t “canceled” by mother nature. Nor did the storm come on Christmas and cancel everyone’s travel plans (knock on wood!). The first weekend in December last year, however, we had a huge snowfall that canceled a much-anticipated family weekend gathering and outing to see Silver Dollar City decked out for the holidays. We were one disappointed lot over that.

Life can hand us even harder “cancellations” than these, though. Do you happen to be dealing with a cancellation in your life right now? Maybe your job was “canceled” due to a lay-off or downsizing, or maybe your marriage was canceled through divorce. You might be going through the break-up of a relationship or even tragically faced with the end of a relationship because of a death. Maybe you’ve had to cancel your plans or put your dreams on hold to care for a loved one. You might even have had to cancel plans to go home for Christmas for some reason.

When our lives and times don’t go as we planned, it helps to remember that God is in charge and that He is able to work things out for our good. So if you are faced with some sort of cancellation in your life, I encourage you to look to God and say, “But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hands…” Psalm 31:14-15a NIV

Filed Under: frustration, nature, winter

The Amazing Race

November 28, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Know what I did yesterday? I competed in my own version of The Amazing Race. For those of you unfamiliar with it, The Amazing Race is a reality show that follows the adventures of several teams of ordinary people racing around the world competing for a prize of a million dollars. Don and I watch the show each week, and as I chronicled my day’s activities for him late last night, I finally breathed a sigh of exhaustion and moaned, “I feel like I’ve been on The Amazing Race!”

No, I didn’t get on a plane, ride a bike, row a boat, or compete in challenges like milking camels or eating unappetizing international foods. I simply went Christmas shopping. Think I’m being overly dramatic? Think again. Since we have very few places to shop in our town other than Wal-mart, I always have way too much to do when I go to T-town for my monthly writers meetings. With Christmas shopping added to the mix, I found myself running The Amazing Race, not just watching it.

I didn’t have a partner like the teams on the show do (the friend I go to the meetings with is battling bad knees right now). My only competitor was the clock, but that was enough. I went armed with my list of stops and gift ideas, knowing I had only x-amount of time to try to conquer it all. After making the drive and parking in front of my first stop, I pulled out my list, reviewed it, put on my game face, and started walking. Or maybe I should say sprinting. I move fast on marathon shopping days — just ask my family.

I didn’t stand in lines at airport ticket counters, but I did stand in lines at almost every check out or customer service. I wasn’t required to search through hundreds of assigned items trying to spot one with a special mark, but I certainly scoured aisles and shelves in store after store trying to find what I had in mind for those on my list.

While driving from place to place, I ate my lunch and plotted new strategies to deal with the roadblocks and detours that presented themselves — stores that had closed, stores that had moved, discontinued items, out-of-stock items, high prices, wrong color, wrong style, a phone call late in the day from an unnamed family member finally giving me a list of ideas… You get the picture. My roadblocks and detours were certainly different from those on the show, but they challenged and stressed me just the same.

I didn’t give up, though, and along with the frustrations, I also experienced some pleasant surprises and successes. I pressed on until I reached the pit stop for my race — the restaurant where I met my friend for supper. She can attest to the fact that I showed up looking a little rattled and frazzled, but I made it by the appointed time. Problem is, I didn’t accomplish all on my list. I guess the clock won. I did the best I could, though, and my trunk was filled with the proof :)

I would rather my Christmas shopping be more leisurely and “merry”, but sometimes our situations don’t afford us the luxury of our “rathers”. And so for now, I may have to compete in The Amazing Race from time to time. What about you? Are you in the midst of a race of some sort or faced with the prospect of one? I encourage you to put on your game face and start walking — or sprinting or whatever you have to do. Press on and don’t give up. Bet you’ll have a friend waiting for you at your pit stop, too.

“…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1b NIV)

Filed Under: frustration, holidays, time
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