I took this picture of a pier off the Mississippi Coast in 2009. What once was a working, fully functional very useful pier is now a bunch of wooden posts left after the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I love this picture...as you can tell with me playing with it. This is new to me. I just discovered a website (thanks a lot Christina) to play and change the effect of a picture and though I have a long way to go with learning what looks right, it's so much fun!
I can see God working in this way. When your life is in the worst storm you've ever seen and once it's all done, settled and you can finally breathe again, you can see how God made everything; the aftermath, beautiful. But I'm hoping to go one step further. My plan...ok, really it's God's, is to see the beauty He's doing in my lifeduring the storm. Crazy enough, I'm seeing it. Of course not all of it, or I'm sure the majority of it for that matter. I know I'm still dwelling on the things I can't have, and won't have and really really want right now but am stopping myself from getting them...have you ever had that? You're on a tight budget or finally put your foot down on yourself with buying things and the moment you do, there's something you HAVE to have!? Yeah, that's me right now. I'm itching to develop the 400 pictures that I haven't developed yet and put them in photo books that I can create online, or buy more socks, or I could really use a new candle; I'm running low, and on and on and on. If you knew my mental list, whew! I wouldn't have any money in my savings.
I budgeted out my savings the other day. I have just about 4 months worth. Not a lot but it's better than 1, 2 or 3. I have no doubt it will zoom by and I'll be scratching my head saying, "Okay God, whatchya got for me?" but right at this very moment I'm not freaking out about it. I think sometimes that I should be, but of course that would defeat the purpose of relying and trusting in God to take care of me now and in the future. It's a daily thing this trust. My flesh is way to weak to be stoic for the full 24 hours and truth be told it comes and goes.
It was funny, the day I had the appointment with my retirement company; I received a letter from my institution saying; 'Oh, we overpaid you $2200 on your last check. Expect to pay it back.' I knew this was coming because when I got said check, I was really surprised that it was a full paycheck. I made sure to put some away in case they gave me the doomsday letter but I really wasn't expecting THAT much. Any way, with that letter and with being told I couldn't work for up to 9 months, I told my Mom on the phone that day, that I expected 'things' to begin happening to me financially...because...isn't that how it always is? You're strapped and then a tire blows or something breaks that you need fixing? So I said that I knew I'd be tested and I was fully expecting it, and simply...that I wouldn't freak out. After getting home and closing my hatch with my arms full of stuff, my very old janky garage door opener that was sitting on the box in my arms, slipped right off and crashed into pieces on the ground. I shove everything back into my car and put it all back together and what do you know!? It won't work. I was fuming mad! And since the garage was equally old and janky I couldn't figure out how to manually close it. After grumbling all the way back to my apt. with all my stuff I call my Dad with flames shooting out of my head. He's offering his help and I'm cutting him off, snapping at him and pushing all my frustration on him. It took 2 minutes of doing that to realize, 'hey dummy, #1. you called HIM to help #2. He's helping as best as he can without being able to see it. and #3. Didn't you just say you wouldn't freak out if you were tested?! Bam! Failed. So I zipped it and listened and what do you know!? He told me how to disable it so I could manually open and close the door for the whole weekend. I still don't think I've apologized to him for that, I'm sorry Dad. Love you!! I was able to laugh at it (the situation, not me snapping at my dad) the moment I got off the phone. Talk about an immediate lesson! One that I keep reminding myself of when I want to react as I'm so used to doing, because I reallywant to see the beauty God is doing while in my little storm! Pin It Now!
3 comments:
God has a way of making us see ourselves more clearly. When praying for strength, patience, the ability to have His love show through us, or all of the above, God has tested my seriousness every time. At my former job, I was upset with myself with my inability to be patient/kind with a coworker that is especially annoying to me. I was praying on my way to work that God would help me in this area. When I got to work, I found out that this person was to be my partner for the day (which never happens normally). I had to laugh because God was throwing me in the deep end, and seeing if I was really serious about my prayer.
Those pictures are beautiful. I will never forget Hurricane Katrina and crying as I saw New Orleans and other parts of the gulf coast go under so much water. I remember my cousin having to go work in NO at that time, because he is a State Trooper. His stories were sad. At the moment it did not seem as if any good could come out of a storm. The gulf coast seemed to be destroyed. God brought people together in a beautiful way to help those in need who were severely affected by the storm and that was a beautiful sight.
Those pictures are beautiful. I will never forget Hurricane Katrina and crying as I saw New Orleans and other parts of the gulf coast go under so much water. I remember my cousin having to go work in NO at that time, because he is a State Trooper. His stories were sad. At the moment it did not seem as if any good could come out of a storm. The gulf coast seemed to be destroyed. God brought people together in a beautiful way to help those in need who were severely affected by the storm and that was a beautiful sight.
Post a Comment