Owen woke up very happy this morning. He still has a runny nose and a cough but it’s not nearly as constant as it was. He’s definitely on the mend and this makes mommy happy.
Owen is sleeping right now and I’m munching on a yummy salad with turkey, Swiss cheese, banana peppers, bell peppers and carrots over green leaf lettuce and topped with a creamy Lime Cilantro dressing. It’s pretty good.
I went to the Ladies Bible Study today. We started on a new book called The Mind of Christ by T. W. Hunt. This is sort of cool because a) I already have the book…have had it for years. I just found it this morning and that will save me 15 precious dollars. And b) I just started reading a book called Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado. The object and message of these books are very similar, one is more a study and the other more of a narrative so I’m getting some good, well rounded inspiration here.
I like to watch Joyce Meyer’s program on the internet. I actually watch all the archived ones usually because I can’t seem to catch up with the current one’s. No matter, I enjoy them regardless of how current they are. Anyway…the one I watched yesterday had her talking about going through trials. She said, “Do you ever feel like you made the right decision and someone just turned the furnace up 7 times hotter?” I had to laugh. I have often thought of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and the fiery furnace as a wonderful parallel to the trials that we go through, but it never dawned on me that sometimes we look at the furnace and think…God can handle that, we step out in faith only to realize the fire is even hotter than we thought it would be. Seven times hotter! It’s as if God is smiling at us and saying…”watch this!” He loves to surprise us with His greatness and I love to be walking with Him…whether it’s through fire, or through green pastures…He’s my favorite person to hang out with.
I have watched my dearest friends go through similar fires. They have borne and are bearing these things with grace and much prayer and I have wondered why. Why does obedience have to be so hard? The load of responsibility and taxing job of care of others can feel like it’s never going to end. Now…I’m looking at trials and all I see is victory. God doesn’t allow things to happen to us to see if we can handle it. He allows trials to come, to see if we’ll let Him handle it. He’s a good God and all He wants from us is our worship. Worship that says…”I’m not God, You are, and I throw up my hands in surrender.” Worship that confesses our humanity and His deity. Worship that simply puts us in His throne room where He can bless us as only a Father can bless us.