Our Lord and our God. We joy in Thee. Without Thy Help we could not face unafraid the year before us.
This is the prayer for today in God Calling Journal, a new daily devotional journal I started on this January 1, 2010. The move into the 5th wheel is complete, the townhouse cleaned and emptied a few days ago and the keys returned to the property manager. But moving in is not the same as settling in, and that part is still just beginning. We are starting our 3rd week of living in the 5th wheel, which now has a name. It's the Doll House, off-handedly suggested by our daughter's fiance shortly after we moved in.
As he looked around the living area and kitchen, with just a touch of envy in his eyes, he said "This is quite a little dollhouse you have gotten for yourselves, you should be very happy here."
May it be so.
2009--The worst, the hardest, the most trial-filled, or the most sorrowful year of my life, of our life together....take your pick. My fantasy/fantastic Christmas wish didn't happen, but no surprise there, because that is not the way that God's providence and provision works. Just read Job. Nor is there magic fairy dust that happens when the ball drops in Times Square for the troubles and sorrows that began in 2009 are still very much present on this sunny New Year's Day.
And yet..."Remember that you must not see as the world sees. I hold the year in My Hands--in trust for you. But I shall guide you one day at a time. Leave the rest with Me. You must not anticipate the gift by fears or thoughts of the days ahead. And for each day I shall supply the wisdom and the strength."
It is a sunny New Year's Day. There still a chill to the air, but the temperature is starting to moderate into the 50's. (Of course, we live in south central Texas, to someone in Nebraska or Montana it would seem like a heat wave.)
We have settled into the Doll House sufficiently that I have been able to cook. V (our daughter) and I even managed to make fruitcakes and cookies on Christmas Eve Day in my tiny propane oven. I need to make mushroom soup, collard greens and sweet potatoes, and black-eyed peas for a New Year's party that starts later this afternoon. But....there are still the ocassional meltdowns, like trying to find a pair of shoes in our tiny closet before going out to dinner for New Years Eve. Another one day at a time kind of things.
Moving from from a 1400 square foot townhouse to a 300 square foot 5th wheel would be a challenge for most people. Throw in the small fact that we have never been RVers prior to the move and we are now on the ground where angels fear to tread. It is an odd combination of sheer lunacy and adamantine faith...the lunacy we come by natural and this kind of faith only comes from God Himself. In essence my Christmas wish was that all I had to face was making a life here in the 5th wheel and dealing with unemployment, but for His Purposes I am to remain in the more difficult crucible of grief and loss.
And so Lord, I pray: Forgive me when I anticipate the days ahead with fear. Help me to remember what St. Paul told us that Your Grace is sufficient for whatever thorn You choose to have us bear. In Your Mercy, help me to trust that You will supply the wisdom and the strength and guide me day by day. Amen.
February Photo-A-Day Blog Challenge #6 – Dinner
9 years ago
