The last two weeks in our small group we have been studying 1 Peter. If you are not aware let me include a few verses that was our food for thought.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you,5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed
Life for the most part has been smooth sailing for Bill and I. We have had a few bumps in the road along the way. Tonight seems like a trial so right now this verse is taking on a little more practical meaning. If you are my friend on facebook and current on event you know the outline of events that transpired tonight April 15th 2011.
Bill and I were enjoying our typical Friday night routine since Charleigh's birth of pizza and relaxation. Charleigh was asleep on my lap after finishing her dinner and I started smelling something quite vile. At first I thought is was my precious daughter letting off her own scents to let us know she was still there alive and well. After smelling it off and on for about an hour I checked her diaper to see if she had left us a present. That is when Bill got up to go upstairs and stepped in a pool of water at the base of our stairs. Our floor drain in the laundry room had been backing up. We suctioned up the pools and started discussing what should be done as we watched the water bubble up through the drain.
As we have been working on our yard we have been looking at how our tree roots are exposed and making the terrain bumpy. We have been wondering how hard it would be to get grass to grow in those areas. The other thought is what to do if we can't. I don't want to have an ideal place for the kids to make mud pies every time it rains. The topic of how those tree roots might be effecting the house came up so we decided we would use some chemicals to kill the tree roots so they did not effect the plumbing. Bill bought them yesterday and we were going to use them last night. Too late!!! We think the fact that it has been raining all day has not helped matters any. To make matters even more complex the house warrenty company called this week asking if we wanted to renew. We had decided that due to needing to tighten the belt on our monthly budget we would pass on the oppurtunity. It official expired two days ago!!!
So we started sucking up water with our shop vac calling friend for recommendations on plumbers. We called a couple places only to get answering machines. REALLY when my fingers do the walking in the yellow pages and I stop on your ad because it says 24 hour service I would expect an answer. Sorry I got side tracked...I put Charleigh to bed while Bill continued to man the shop vac. Around midnight he told me to go to bed so at least one of us could get some sleep and be ready to go when Charleigh decided to get up. So I slept soundly till 3:30. I awoke after a freaky dream of waking up in a parellel universe where no one at the church would help me find my way Charleigh and my way back home and when I tried on my own bunnies with fangs chased me while hoodlem boys threw cow manure on me. (The plumber's answering machines and faint sewer smell must be getting to me.)
I went downstairs and Bill and I both fell asleep while trying to finish the show we were watching when the tragedy occured. So now I am on suction duty. The water flow is slowing down a little but that still doesn't solve the problem. We can't do anything that requires water running down a drain.
So that brings me to the main point the verse I referred to in the beginning says that trail of all kind come to strength our faith. Makes me think of James 1:2
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything
Testing of faith develops perserverance...the ability to go on. For us the trial is inconvience, mess and finances. We are already relying on God for provision and he has been faithful and I believe that he will do that. Why? Because as we have been having our bumps in the road he has kept reminding me that this move was part of the plan for us... He provided us with this house and opened the door wide. Did he bring us here just to fall flat on our face I don't think so.
Consider it pure joy...This has been anything but joyful. Being tired from being up all night, people not being available to help us, the smell that is lingering in our house. Wait a minute....as I have been writing this blog I am reminded of all the real tragedy that has happened on the other side of the world this last month. People displaced from thier homes, who have lost family memebers and everything they own. Now that is a trial. The first thing to cause us to be thankful is we were downstairs so we did notice it in the early stages of the problem. We still have a wonderful home. Our family is healthy and happy. Just now as I ran upstairs to check on my daughter, who is still sleeping, I saw the rain has stopped and the sun is shining, the birds singing. I saw the beautiful colors of Kansas spring time. Thank you Jesus, in advance, for how this situation will end up because I now you will continue to be faithful even in during a minor trial like ours.
P.S. Got a hold of a plumber they can't get here till this afternoon but at least they are coming.
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