Last week was a doozy.
Can I give you a little bit of a plot build up first?
At the end of April, on one of my kiddos’ birthdays…I thought our refrigerator was quitting. We weren’t in a great place communication wise in our house (I’d like to thank the Coronavirus induced isolation for that, but alas, it can not take sole blame), and that refrigerator was a wedding gift.
Just shy of 17 years and it really wasn’t a great week to think one of the only still standing gifts from our wedding was about to die—it felt symbolic of the way our relationship felt right then.
I don’t know what would’ve happened if that refrigerator had actually died, but in a moment of victory, my husband was able to save the fridge. It was a much-needed grace. It didn’t fix everything, but it did fix the fridge and keep me from falling absolutely completely apart.
A few days later, my bathtub wasn’t draining. Like, at all. This was an easy fix, nothing a little Drano couldn’t take care of, but coming shortly behind the refrigerator scare it was still kind of stressful.
I had no idea.
Cue another week or so later, when our electric company installed new meters at several houses in our neighborhood. Our house is about 60 years old and our electric meter is housed in a box that a bird has made a nest in for probably all 60 of those years.
Well, not the same bird, but her grandkids and their grandkids and such. It’s a home passed down in their bird family for generations. Or so I’d like to think.
Cleaning out the giant mess of a nest was on our list for this summer, but we wanted to wait until the babies were gone. I mean, that just seems the right thing to do, especially since we saved them from a cottonmouth climbing UP THE ELECTRIC POLE and trying to get in the meter box and EAT THEM. So, we waited.
But the electric company came before we’d cleaned out the box. So my husband cleaned out the box, the electricians installed the new meter, and that was that.
They came back later to check on it and let me know it was much more efficient than our old one in that it sends a rapid signal to them when we lose power. Sounds great to me.
Fast forward a few days later when I’m making dinner…our entire house runs predominately on propane, but that night, I decided to use my air fryer. Which is…you guessed it, electric.
As my chicken breasts were nice and halfway cooked, the power in my entire house went out completely. I checked the breaker box, all was fine, there…hmmm…
It was time for that rapid-fire electric meter signal to shine!
Except it didn’t.
None of our neighbors were without power, no other outages had been reported to our electric company…so we waited, and I shifted my electricity powered dinner to my olden days’ propane powered stove.
The electric company showed up an hour or so later, and discovered the problem had to do with only the meter being replaced, none of the other parts that go with it (I don’t know the technical terms, guys. It was the box and some really big pole).
They stayed well past dark and got it all up and running again, so we’re thankful for that.
That was feeling like a lot.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
I went to run my bath that evening, and there was no hot water. We chalked it up to the power outage, even though that made no sense…and figured it would be better in the morning.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
Upon opening our hot water heater closet, I discovered the drip pan full of water; and my tool bag, which is at the foot of the hot water heater stand, saturated with water. Cool.
So all that water caused the pilot light to go out, which caused us to not have any hot water.
My husband pumped all the water out of the drip pan, got the pilot light going, and had the plumber come to check and make sure nothing else was wrong.
There was a small repair the plumber made, an easy fix. Everyone was happy about that, but we decided to replace the hot water heater this year sometime, just in case it was faulty…no rush or anything, because it seemed to be working.
Until the next morning. When I didn’t have hot water again. Because the drip pan was full again. Thankfully, our plumber was able to install a new water heater that day, under warranty!! So that problem was pretty easily fixed.
While all of that was going on, my washer was overflowing, my dishwasher was full of mold, my dryer vent was clogged, and my van was having the timing belt repaired (and being cantankerous about it, as well…but finally she calmed down and accepted the new timing belt and we were able to retrieve her from the mechanic).
It was a lot, y’all. A LOT. While some of it was free to fix, and some of it cost more than we were prepared for, even if it had all been free, it was still a lot- because “a lot” isn’t just about the money.
The mental and emotional energy required when everything is falling apart is A LOT.
We paid for that week with dollars.
We paid for that week with tears.
We paid for that week with relationship troubles.
We paid for that week with ice cream.
We paid for that week with prayers- prayers from our lips, prayers in our hearts, prayers interceded for us by the Spirit, prayers in the form of songs choked out between sobs.
I won’t say that week was good. It wasn’t good. It was terrible and it was puke-worthy. But it was also praiseworthy. I didn’t always see it and especially didn’t feel it. But that doesn’t make it untrue.
When our days don’t seem so good…He still is.
Those afflictions are trivial in light of so many things that are happening all around us in the world. Those kinds of afflictions will always be trivial in light of so many things happening all around us in the world.
But those kinds of afflictions still happen. And they still affect people. And some seasons those trials are easier to walk through than others.
But the way trivial afflictions impact our lives isn’t trivial.
I am still a major work in progress when things go awry. Prior to everything (literally) falling apart over the last several weeks, we were already in a hard season as a family. Those “trivial” hard things came at what really seemed like a terrible (albeit ironically appropriate) time.
But I don’t hold time in my hands.
And there is no trial, no storm, too little or big to be used by the One who does.
The God of the storm— the storm full of booming thunder, flashing lighting, crashing waves—
That same God leads me beside STILL waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
For his name’s sake.
What we experience as trial and affliction does not find us accidentally. And the strong and sovereign hand of the Lord will daily bear us up and be our salvation.
But why? Why should we face affliction? Why should our life be in any sort of tumult at all ever?
Ps. 44:26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!
Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation.
Psalm 79: 9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!
Psalm 79:13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Psalm 119:75 I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
For His glory. That is why. He who daily bears us up is calling us– to Him.
When *I* feel overwhelmed by my circumstances,
when *I* feel angry with my circumstances,
when *I* am heartbroken and lost over my circumstances,
when *I* am drowning in my circumstances–
lead me to the rock that is higher than *I* , Lord.
May my heart remember that every part of my story is being written for Your glory. There is nothing You cannot use, Lord. Remind me of Your love for me, and that I do not have to fear darkness or trials or struggles, and I’m not alone, because
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, “ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day for darkness is as light with you. Psalm 139: 7-12
Let me hope in the person and glory of the one my soul loves- Robert Hawker
©Alisha H. Cary 2020
