The Day Everything Went Right

Nineteen: the number of things in one day that did not go how i wanted, starting the moment i woke up...late.

It's probably a good thing that I can't remember now everything that went wrong. Let's just say "it was one of those days."

At one point, all I remember is having a phone in one hand and a list of calls to make in the other. Two of my cp-workers walked up, each taking one out of my hand and commanding I stop to eat lunch (which I then realized I had forgotten to do). Next thing I know, my boss is leading me outside without saying a word. I thought, "Great! I've really done something wrong...and I don't even know what it is!" We walked into a prayer garden behind the building and just sat there for who knows how long. Suddenly, he starts laughing. He proceeds to tell me a story about his first trip as a youth pastor...and everything went wrong...and I mean seriously wrong. His continuous laughter confused me, on top of my emotional rollar-coaster morning.

But he shared that story with me to say this: "Sometimes, you just have to laugh at yourself." How dumb am I to think that I am responsible for my circumstances or that their outcomes are my fault. NEWS FLASH! i'M NOT GOD! So why am I placing God-sized expectations on myself?

I would like to say that after some desperate words of prayer, I was fine, but I would be lying. I continued to struggle...but I was trying to at least listen to the LORD. And listening paid off, because it led to two opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus with women from the Kunama people group from Eritrea. These women are now my sisters in Christ. There is now a Bible study starting among that people group.

That day, everything seemed to go wrong...but God stopped me to say, "Today went exactly the way I wanted it to." God did the most amazing thing I've ever seen in Clarkston on the day when I thought the most unlikely, when I felt the most wretched and inadequate. All to see that when we give God what He asks for, which is everything we have, He can do more than all we ask or imagine.

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20,21

"On their return the apostles told [Jesus] all that they had done. And He took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. When the crowds learned it, they followed Him, and He welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men. And He said to His disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” And they did so, and had them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces." Luke 9:10-17