Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Students of Providence

If you read my post last Friday, you read a blurb about me, our camper, the plugged kitchen sink, the gray water holding tank, and Mr. Hippie riding to the rescue. But, right before my knight in shining armor arrived, the camp ground caretaker and I figured out the problem.

I felt sheepish and embarrassed. And I felt really awful for making Mr. Hippie drive an hour to solve a problem which got solved minutes before he arrived.

If it had been me, I would have been angry that someone had wasted my time. That I drove all that way for nothing.

But, Mr. Hippie is a better man than I am. Well, actually, he is a literal man. I'm not. Regardless, this is what he said to me...

God must have wanted me up here.

Wow!

In the past few weeks we have had several bumps in our road.

-Our water heater gave out spectacularly. It worked one day, and didn't the next. I guess I hadn't realized it was old when we moved in 8 years ago. It was living on borrowed time. Interestingly enough, our plumber's Up North scheduled job for that day fell through. He was able to replace our water heater within hours of me discovering it wasn't working via a cold shower.

-Our clothes dryer stopped heating. It is also living on borrowed time. It is well over 10 years old. It may be closer to 20 years old. It is okay to hang out laundry for a while but we were thinking we were going to have to replace it fairly soon. Instead, a wise person suggested that it could be the heating coil. Voila! A mechanic came and fixed it, and it has been purring along nicely ever since.

-Our IA plans fell through. We were going to visit some missionary friends in IA that we had met in Indo earlier this year. We were going to leave early-early the Friday of Labor Day weekend, and drive back here on Monday. But, their life is chaotically busy. And I sighed a sigh of relief when I found out I could be home between the camper and that trip. It was an unexpected window of time that gave me space to do paperwork, and cleaning, and cooking, and biking, and breathe before school started up.

When I wrote on FB about our water heater I said, "I wonder if God chuckles sometimes when He hears me regale Him with my plans for the day/week?"


I don't think the Lord God Almighty is capricious like the depictions of the Greek and Roman gods. He is not trying to make our lives difficult. He isn't trying to frustrate our plans.

He just has other plans for us, because He sees the big picture.

I think Mr. Hippie's response is the absolute best response. "God must have wanted me here."

What a lesson! His attitude influenced me to keep mine in check, and because of that, I felt I was able to help my kids with their disappointment over the IA trip.

I believe in the sovereignty of God. God is the Ruler over all people, time, places and circumstances. Sometimes I think that is easier to see, acknowledge and submit to in the big world events.

But, in the little details of our lives, it is often harder to swallow. The water heaters, and clothes dryers, and weekend plans, and sink drains. God has a plan. In the suffering and the hard things and in the good things...God has a plan He is working out.

It is our job to be students of Providence. We need to look for the divine care and guidance in the big and little happenings of our lives.

Because the Providence is there. If we choose to see it. If we are willing to hold our own plans and ideas lightly, God will reveal Himself and His workings to us. Maybe not that day, or even in this lifetime, but eventually we will see the big picture how God sees it. The little threads of circumstances and people He wove together to make up His beautiful plan.

How have you seen Providence at work in your life lately?