Sweet Joys

Today I was struck with the realization that life is not always what you are given but it's mostly how you respond.

I have known this and I have even talked about it with others before. But today it became clearer. I have been struggling big time with allergies this spring...making my spring not so springy... So today was a relatively normal day. I went to work, came home and baked all night. Sounds normal right? Well, the entire time I've had a massive sinus headache that won't go away no matter how much medicine I take or how much Vicks I put on. (Yes Jared you can remind me later that I said that.) But through it all I have had a great day.

God has been walking me through this day one step at a time, one loaf of bread at a time, one customer at a time... He's been there through it all.

Every time I felt like giving up He was right there to pick up my head and say "it's OK, keep going, keep your eyes on me and I'll help you." He was right. As I look back, I can see clearly that the times that I "looked away" from Him I fell on my face with discouragement, pain, and feeling sorry for myself; but when I was looking at Him I almost forgot about the pain and I could focus on what needed to be done and what I could do to make this day better. Yes, I got through work and I got through my baking (for now...15 mini loafs of pistachio down, 5 more to go.)After my last batch of bread came out of the oven I read through my friend Chaille's blog www.bigfishinalittlecity.blogspot.com She is currently in Romania doing her fieldwork at an organization called "Veritas." Chaille spoke tonight about the greatness of God's plan and how every little detail was put in place before he could bring her to Romania so that once she got there the "soil" would be ready to plow and plant. In a way, that's how I feel about my day today. I feel like God is still preparing the "soil" in my heart for other things....tasks, time, talents, treasures, etc. and who am I to stand in the way of the Almighty's plan to not only better my life, but to use my life to better others' lives as well. By using my time today to complain and groan and wine about my headache or all of the "things" I had to do today I was only pushing God away and saying... "your plan isn't good enough." Many times we want the big exciting things to happen every minute of every day; but you know, those things that are big and exciting wouldn't be big and exciting if they happened all the time. So I'm learning, along with you, to take life one step at a time and rejoice in my sufferings as well as in my blessings so that God can use them both for His glory.

God bless, Sleep well,

CW