Skip to main content

Still, Small Ways

When I first started having health challenges, one of the original challenges was severe claustrophobia and crowd anxiety. I mean, I used to be the girl who spoke practically no Spanish, flew to the Dominican in the middle of the night, cleared customs and took a taxi an hour ride to a missionary’s house by herself, no sweat. But when Lyme happened, if someone so much as got in line behind me at the grocery store, I had a panic attack because it was too crowded and I felt trapped. Sheesh. I went nowhere but work and home for a very long time.

I thought I was reasonably over my fear of the grocery store, but lately it’s circled back around to freak me out. Lines. Waiting. Crowds. Being at other people’s mercy. I get sick to my stomach just knowing I have to go. (I know, it’s dumb. But tell my body that because it says it’s a VERY REAL DANGER RUN RUN RUN 🙄.)

While trying to hype myself up to make the next grocery run, I realized... so far, I have not had to stand in more than a reasonable checkout line throughout this whole COVID thing. I’ve never had to wait to get in anywhere, and I’ve never been stuck in a crowd. I could attribute that to my great skills of picking the best time to go, but really, I think it just amounts to Jesus loves me and He knows I can’t deal.

I usually get so annoyed when people attribute every. little. thing. to God being so great, because so much of my adult life has been spent feeling like Martha, saying “Lord, if you had only been here, x wouldn’t have happened. Where the heck are You?” And the answer I get is no lines at the grocery store. Why the big things go seemingly unanswered I’ll never know, but for now I’ll hold on to all the little ways He lets me know He’s there. Like no lines at the grocery store.

What’s a still, small way God’s let you know He’s got you lately?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Check Yo' Facts, People

The number of Christians spewing Rachel Scott's father's speech after Columbine all over Facebook and via email is unbelieveable. Sure, it applies to the Newton shooting, but guess what??! Contrary to popular opinion, IT'S NOT ABOUT THE NEWTON SHOOTING. He made that speech after the Colombine shooting in 1999. (Link above takes you to the house.gov record of the speech) Christians, please check your facts before you present heresay as truth! I remember one time in high school everybody was passing around a chain email that said Mars was the closest to earth it would ever be, and to go look at the stars on a particular night to see it. Well, without checking our facts, we went with some friends to the observatory at the local university to view the sights. When we asked about Mars, the professor was like, "uhh, did you get an email?? Because Mars is as far away from earth as possible right now..." It pays to do your homework, people. Did we believe any of the ...

The Still, Small Voice

Like any good human, I'm waiting for the earthquake that determines my next move in life. I'm waiting for the hurricane, or the volcano, or the atomic bomb. Something obvious that will tell me what to do. You're not being faithful in the little things. I was driving down the road on my way to work, whining to God about why I had to be doing this, why I couldn't move somewhere new, do something new, try something exciting. Then came the still small voice. You're not being faithful in the little things. And it was gone. It wasn't the flowery message we so often pass around of God has great things for you, just wait, it will come, it will be better than you could imagine... It was you're not being faithful . Ouch. Words never sting so much as when you know, no question, they're true. The time I waste. The half-hearted job I do on certain tasks. The avoiding of certain people. The fact I'm sitting here flipping between Facebook and ty...

Maybe It's Not So Bad....

So apparently I don't learn my lessons very well. I was going back through my recent posts, and they were about thankfulness and giving God control of my life. This past week, I've been bombarded with small and medium sized things that require a reaction from me. And my reactions haven't been very good. Instead of looking for ways that God can use the situation, I've been complaining. A lot. Yesterday, when yet another thing had to be dealt with, I was reminded of Paul. Here I am, worried about how to fix my truck and if I can get all my homework done in time. There's Paul, rejoicing because he GETS to suffer for Christ. And he doesn't just have a lot of homework. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits...