God is Faithful and Trustworthy ~ Lenten Day 14

It’s been a few days of craziness for us ~ I was due to return from Oregon on 3/16, changed my flight to 3/13 – leave Portland at 2:00p arrive in Tampa at 11:55p…forgot to figure in

and then arriving at the airport find out my flight to DFW won’t arrive in time for my connection to Tampa so I got rerouted including two 4.5 hr layovers!!! Oh my goodness!!! So I called Ron ~ honey you get to sleep tonight…just get up at 4:00a to pick me up at 6:00a…sent a text at Midnight…nope flight not due in until 6:30a so no need to get up quite so early!!! Finally arrived, got my luggage (one of which was a broken suitcase ~ decided it was 12 years old, not worth it to file a claim plus too dang tired to worry about it). Crawled into my bed at 7:30a!! Sleep never felt so good!!!

I am thankful that the Lord provided me the opportunity to help out a friend and be reminded over and over again how He faithfully provides for his children.

In one of my devotions this morning I am reminded how “the Bible doesn’t ask us to explain why things happen but to remember how God’s wisdom and power have been at work, even long before you or me. This keeps us from interpreting present circumstances hastily, limiting grace to timelines, or cramming the darker mysteries of life into bright, tidy spiritual boxes. Our times are in his hand. Now is the time for seeking his care and trusting that when this season, too, is past, it will be revealed among the ranks of God’s mighty history with his people, a page in the calendar year of God’s time.“

Ecclesiastes tells us

Before making the trip to Oregon, Ron told me multiple times “Maybe you aren’t working right now so you can be available to help our friend.” We have had over 80K air miles just sitting there ~ enough to cover my flights and I could be unemployed in Oregon as well as in Florida…so off I went. I was glad to be there to assist with family and health issues, get things in a manageable form and see my sweet ocean!! As most of you know, the ocean is my happy place!!!

And in Pacific Northwest fashion I was sent back to Florida in the midst of a storm!!!

As I reflect on Ecclesiastes as our lives are filled with different seasons I reflect back on my past…as a young wife, then young mom, losing a child when I was just a child, mom of rambunctious toddlers and teenagers who made me question my ability as a parent, as an adult dealing with past emotional trauma of abuse of every kind imaginable, as an adult child of alcoholics and dealing with their lives and death and how their lives affected my life in so many ways.

I can see how the Lord was with me, even when I didn’t see or feel Him!!! The hard things I have dealt with have led me to be able to help others…minister to those who are watching a baby pass away before their eyes, losing a teenager who had their whole life ahead of them, listening as someone sat by their parents bedside saying goodbye, being there to welcome the birth of a healthy child, celebrating graduations from high school and college, sending our loved ones to a foreign country to fight battles no one understands. So many things…that we want to question, wonder the why and how and yet God reminds us over and over that he is our refuge and strength ~ in Psalm 63

In verse 1, the psalmist cries, “My soul thirsts for you,” and God is our sanctuary. In verse 5 we hear, “My soul is satisfied,” and God’s promise is abundant. In verse 8, “My soul clings to you,” and God is our refuge. God is holding us up and piecing us together one day at a time

One day at a time, one step at a time, one minute or hour at a time ~ that’s how God is…He is with us every step we take, every decision we make even when we don’t understand or know what to do…and that’s where our (my) trust in God comes from trusting even in difficult times.