God's At Work In Our Daily Lives--What A Week!

Sometimes problems can be blessings as I discovered last week. When problems arise, we need to ask "What is God trying to teach me through this?" Here are three examples:

WEDNESDAY: No Bible Study Tonight

This has been one unusual week for us. I was looking forward to starting my new Bible Study at church on "The Excellent Wife" by Martha Peace when the snow came at rush hour. My husband called when he got home 20 minutes later than usual to tell me how bad the roads were. I knew he didn't want me going out to church. He told me it would probably be canceled and I should call the church to make sure they were still having it before going.

Having started reading the book, I read about how our husbands should be our first ministry. That's right, even above Bible studies! I also had just finished reading how important it is to show respect for our husbands by being submissive to them and that being submissive is a good thing. God has placed the husband over the wife for the wife's protection. So, naturally, when I was talking with Gerard on the phone, in the back of my mind, these words kept coming up.

I called the church as he suggested and found that it was still on. I asked the church secretary to give Nora the message that I wouldn't be there tonight because my husband didn't want me to go and I was being an "excellent wife." I knew she'd understand. As it turned out, my bus was very late and running very slow. I got home at 7:15 and the Bible Study started at 7 p.m. It took me two hours and 15 minutes to get home from work. Even though I felt bad I missed the first discussion on this book, I had peace about it because I knew in my heart that I honored my husband and did the right thing. Getting home that late just made it much easier to accept. God is good!

THURSDAY: When The Lens Pops Out, It's Time For New Glasses

It was in single digits today, extremely cold out with snow all over. When I was having my morning devotions, I heard my husband yell, "Oh NO!" I came down to find that his lens popped out of his glasses. He stuck it back in. However, after taking the garbage out and scraping the ice off his car, he noticed it was out again when he came inside. He was very upset and was determined to go to work anyway.

Again, what I had just read in "The Excellent Wife" popped into my head. Be a "Suitable helper" to your husband. Tha is my calling. So, I gently begged him not do drive with only one lens and said I'd go look for it at least. He ate while I took the flashlight and looked in the snow where he had walked while asking God to please help me find it. Well, I didnt find it.

I gave Gerard two suggestions: (1) I would take off work too and we would go get him new glasses today and he could go in later if he wanted to; or (2) he could ride to work with his boss who lives just a few house up the street and wear his sunglasses all day and go get new ones for him that evening. I was glad he had calmed down enough to choose the first option.

He got new glasses and I didn't have to wait for the bus on this frigid cold day. We both went to workout during the afternoon rather than having to go out at night. He didn't go into work because it was well into the afternoon before the glasses were ready. At least he got them the same day though and said he can see better now. Things seem bigger!

Perhaps this was God's way of getting us to finally spend the money for his new glasses. Fortunately, he had the prescription he got just last summer so he didn't need an eye appointment. I thank God that it happened at the beginning of the day rather than when he was at work or driving. What a blessing!

FRIDAY: Frozen Pipes--Plumber To The Rescue

When I went to give the cats fresh water from our bathroom off the den, no cold water came out, just the hot. This happened before and after a few tries it worked, so I tried again . . . and again . . . and again. Ooops, I'm thinking, oh no. It must be frozen. I hope our pipes don't break. I called our regular plumber (we seem to have plumbing problems often) and he confirmed my fear. He said there's nothing he can do until someone gets home, but he would come tonight if it still wasn't working.

When Gerard got home from work, he called the plumber and he arrived just after I got in. The bad news is that we need to get our attic which contains our upstairs pipes insulated this spring, but the good news is that our pipes didn't break. He just turned off the water going up there so it wouldn't happen again and said when we want it back on to call him and he'd come over and get it back on for us. We can easily manage without using that bathroom for a couple months.

Praise God he watches out for us and for once, I did something right!