My parents raised me as a vegetarian and as an adult I chose to continue eating fruits and veggies.  My husband has never been as thrilled as I am about consuming fresh carrot juice, but recently he has adopted the paleo diet for health reasons.  Certainly his  choice is healthier than his usual diet of a coke and a candy bar, but he still avoids greens at every opportunity.

I appreciate my husband enjoying life without stomach pain so I have picked up some paleo cook books and searched the internet for a few basic meat recipes without grains or sugar that also taste good.  My recipe repertoire is increasing, but for the most part I like to keep it simple.  He prefers simplicity as well, since he is a picky eater.  Several times I bought turkey burgers at the local health food store and tossed them in the frying pan, but he didn’t much care for them.  Recently I discovered why they were not a favorite.  Brett prefers his meat well done so being a novice at cooking meat I stab at the burger so I can see the middle of it.  In the process of stabbing it all the juices run out, creating a dry burger.  But, since I didn’t eat the burgers I didn’t know what was wrong with them.

Recently I decided to cook a chuck roast we had bought at a local farmers market and I found a recipe online with good reviews.  I love reading reviews and enjoyed reading through the comments left by others who had tried the recipe.  One reviewer commented that they had seared the roast on both sides to seal in the juices and therefore ended up with a tender juicy chuck roast.

A few days later I decided to cook more turkey burgers because their preparation is so simple.  I put them in the hot pan and after a few minutes flipped them over.  I hovered over the pan and watched them puff up.  After a few more minutes  I took the spatula and stabbed at the middle of a turkey burger to see if it was done on the inside.  I watched as the juices came pouring out.  I recalled the review about the chuck roast and it dawned on me that I was creating a dry burger rather than a tender one and maybe that is why Brett didn’t like them so well.  I continued to gently check the same stabbed burger and avoided stabbing the other burgers in the pan, until I was convinced they were well done.  I served my new version of turkey burgers and  Brett agreed they they were now on the, ‘let’s have them again’ list.

I can apply this story to my relationships with other people.  If I verbally stab someone I can’t expect to have a tender relationship with them.  Our relationship will become like the stabbed turkey burgers, tough and dried up.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.  Ephesians 4:29

Brett had agreed to do a quick favor for the afternoon meeting at church.  He pulled up to the church, made a quick trip inside to turn on the lights then returned to the  car.  He looked forward to an afternoon with a camera exploring an old church cemetery we had discovered earlier in the week.  As he pulled the car forward and turned, the rear tire caught the curb.  Not giving it a second thought he drove the short distance home to pick up the camera.  Looking forward to the rest of the afternoon he stepped out of the car to discover the rear tire no longer retained it round shape.  In fact, the bottom resembled a pancake.

A closer look revealed the tire could not be repaired and would need to be replaced.  The dollar signs multiplied in Brett’s head.   We had just put on a full set of new tires, setting our bank account back by $800.  Now we would need to spend another $200 to replace the  piece of useless expensive rubber.  Disgusted with the situation, Brett decided to wait until the next day to change the tire.

After a cup of coffee and a shower Brett summoned Colby from his cave in the basement to help him change the tire.  In about ten minutes these two men of the house replaced the useless piece of rubber with the ubiquitous donut.  Our once cool looking Subaru Outback suddenly looked a little lame.

Just before dark Brett and I decided we needed to run to the store to pick up a few groceries and a movie or two from Redbox.  We took the back road to the store.  The back road is one of those fun, narrow, hilly, roads where when you go just the right speed at the top of the hills your tummy will tumble and small children riding in the back of the car will squeal with delight and grown-up mom’s riding in the front seat have been known to give the occasional giggle.  But, this trip Brett drove at a slower pace because of the not so sweet donut spinning on the rear of the car.  We meandered up and down the hills enjoying our country drive.  As we topped one hill we were surprised to see the backs of two girls just ahead of us walking in our lane!  Brett applied the brakes and the girls looked behind them in apparent shocked surprise, giggled and hurried to cross to the other side of the road.

I voiced my opinion about air-headed teenage girls who walked with their backs to traffic in the middle of the lane on a narrow country road at dusk.  I rambled on in amazement that they didn’t even apologize, just giggled and walked to the other side of the road while Brett slammed on the brakes to avoid them.  I wound up my tirade mentioning that it was a good thing we weren’t traveling at our usual tummy tumbling speed at the top of the hill.

This story happened almost two weeks ago and it crossed my mind to write about it, but I didn’t have an ending for it.  Today, since I have run short of things to write about, I searched my mind for previous experiences and chose this one despite still not knowing how I would end the story.  But, after pausing for a moment at the end of writing my experience to think about how this could be applied to my spiritual life this thought crossed my mind:

God knows everything.  He knows everything that will happen in the future.  If I stop to think about it, it’s not just the big things He knows about, He also knows all the small things that will happen.  He knew those two girls would be walking down the road on the back side of a hill at the same time that we would be driving down that road on an errand.  He knows how much Aspen and I like to take those hills at tummy tumbling speeds.  While I don’t like parting with an extra $200 to replace a damaged tire, I would much rather do that than have run into those air-headed teenage girls.

God could have created a different way to avoid the situation, He could have delayed our trip to the store or prompted the girls to walk on the other side of the road.  But, instead  we got a flat tire and drove down the road at a slower than usual speed.  Maybe, just maybe, God was showing me that He is in all situations whether they go the way I think they should or if they make no sense to me at all.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.… Proverbs 3:5,6

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

Brett pulled a muscle, but he needed to go to the church to set  up for a youth meeting.  Aspen was concerned about her daddy and told him she would go to the church with him and help him lift the heavy stuff.  I needed to go grocery shopping and ruined Aspen’s plans to help her daddy lift the heavy stuff by insisting she go with me.  After all I knew she would help Brett more by not being there than by actually trying to help lift the heavy stuff for him.

I can look at the above situation and see how ridiculous it is for a seven-year old girl to think she can help her daddy lift the heavy stuff, but how often do I treat my Heavenly Father the same way?  How often do I tell Him I can carry my heavy load by myself when in reality I can’t even pick it up because I’m crushed under the weight?  Or the times I keep trying to open the locked door myself when if I just moved aside, God has the key.  Too often in life I limit the power of God by thinking I can do it myself.  I insist on wallowing in the waves of the storm when if I just asked God He would say, “Peace, be still!”

Every moment of my life God is there.  He has the power.  He has the power to carry my heavy load, open the door, and calm the storms.  But, best of all He has the power to change me!  He has the power to change my heart, the power to change my attitude, the power to change my actions if I will just let go of my inflated sense of self-sufficiency and accept the power of His love for me.

I strapped on my pretty coral-red heels which perfectly matched my dress.  Aspen, my just turned seven-year-old watched me.  “Your shoes are pretty mommy.  Oh, and your dress is pretty too. I really like your sweater and I like your hair.”  She reached out to touch it then prattled on.  “Your hair is so soft and shiny straight….like a pumpkin.”   She rushed to explain how my hair resembled a pumpkin, while I thanked her for the compliments.  Finished with buckling my shoes, I grabbed my purse and keys on our rush out the door to church.

We stepped into the well lighted church.  I greeted a few people and walked Aspen to her children’s program.  Leaving Aspen to sing songs, listen to a Bible story and make a craft I meandered off to the youth room to find Brett.   While I waited for him to finish speaking to the young people and come greet me I happened to glance down.  In horror I realized my shoes did not match my dress at all.  In fact they clashed.  I realized my bedroom lighting lacked the brightness I needed to see the subtle color differences between coral-red and a more peachy-pink red.

It’s so easy for me to feel pretty pulled together about my choices in life.  Whether I’ve managed to perfectly match my shoes and dress, or have the coolest car in my circle of friends, pride can darken my perception of where I really stand.  Only when I stand in the light of the Holy Spirit can I see the true condition of my spiritual life.  

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.  Hebrews 12:1

I can race to arrive to work on time, then race to schmooze the boss hoping to out run a co-worker for a promotion.  I can race to buy the nicest clothes, have the best grades in school, look the prettiest, be the strongest, have the fastest car or the biggest house.  I can race to achieve good works in my church or race to have the most friends on Facebook.  Run.  Run, run.  Chasing after self is exhausting.  The peace I seek runs faster than human legs can churn.

Samson raced forward in life chasing things God never meant for him to waste so much effort on.  He didn’t realize that in his effort  to propel himself forward toward his next pleasurable experience, he was actually slipping further and further down the slippery slope of self-destruction.

The fastest way to win the race is to  give up self and pursue God.  The race to pursue God requires me to give up all my other races and concentrate on keeping pace with my Trainer who leads the way.  Once I admit I can’t win the race on my own, God is faster than a speeding bullet in His arrival to give me the power and strength I need to finish the race and receive the prize.

I walked out of Target with Aspen bemoaning my fate.  I went to Target to buy a kitchen trash can and they didn’t have one, now I would have to go to Wal-Mart.  I didn’t want to go to Wal-Mart, I had just been there the day before and now it would take more time out of my afternoon.  But, I needed a trash can so I sucked it up and continued my shopping expedition to find a trash can.

Finished with shopping I pulled into the parking lot of the school to pick up Brett and go home for a mid-afternoon lunch.  He was still busy, so Aspen and I hung out for about 45 minutes.  By then the clock read 3:15 pm and I was ready to go home for lunch.  I had eaten a breakfast of fruit, drank a bottle of water and snacked on a small bag of potato chips.  My whole body yelled at me for ignoring it most of the day.  I started to grumble.  Brett had disappeared into the hallways and I just wanted to go home.  I told Aspen we were leaving and picked up Brett’s backpack, hoping to run into him on the way out of the school.  I couldn’t text him because his phone wasn’t charged, but that’s another story.  Brett saw us and I tried not to grumble too much as I told him we needed to go home and why.  He is ever so nice and quickly agreed it was time to go.  The school staff picnic was scheduled for 4 pm and was at a park about 20 minutes away.  I grumbled some more about eating before leaving (I can’t eat MSG so eating at the picnic was out unless I wanted to chow down on the vegetable tray, which I wasn’t terribly interested in doing after having fruit for breakfast almost eight hours before.)

We drove up the long single lane hill to our house which is dead last on a bumpy gravel road.  We have new neighbors who had brought their own fridge and at the very moment we were driving past their house maintenance was moving their old side by side fridge out.  I wanted that fridge!  The fridge in my house is  small and I have a hard time shoving 60 pounds of carrots in it along with all my other produce, dairy products, juice and miscellaneous left overs on grocery shopping day.  I pulled into the drive way and Brett got out of the car to ask for the fridge.  They were glad to bring it over to our place right next door instead of hauling it off to storage.

I backed out of the drive way and finished the short jaunt to home.  I mentioned to Brett how fortuitous it was that we had passed by the house just at the moment they were moving the fridge I had wanted to badly.  I had grumbled about making an extra trip to Wal-Mart, I had grumbled about waiting extra time for Brett to finish up at school.  But, it’s as though God had it all planned down to the minute and we drove past the house at the exact moment they were moving the fridge out.  Brett laughed a true belly laugh. Brett rarely laughs a true laugh and I love to hear it.  I have to admit he had good reason to laugh, he had been on the receiving end of my grumbling.  I told him I didn’t like my character building experience, though I had to admit God has a great sense of humor and even better timing.

We sandwiched in an a one day trip to Chattanooga and a half day trip to Nashville between visiting Brett’s dad in North Carolina and his mom in South Carolina. Brett holds the opinion that as a man he should do all of the driving, which has held true until this trip. He needed to finish preparing for his meetings in Chattanooga and Nashville so we switched places and I drove while he rode in the passenger’s seat.

We finished up lunch with his sister and her husband in Chattanooga and I pulled out onto the freeway. Brett punched in the directions to the hotel in Nashville and we sped down the freeway on the short two-hour trip. Upon arriving in Nashville, the GPS spoke to me, telling me to exit right and stay left. There were two lanes in the direction we were traveling on the exit so I followed the repeated directions of the GPS and stayed in the left lane. We slowed to a stop behind a few cars and realized that the GPS was wrong. The hotel we wanted to stay at was directly across the street from the intersection with no entrance to the hotel if we turned left. The traffic was heavy so I decided that rather than try to edge my way into the right lane I would just continue to turn left and make a u-turn. I did breathe a quick prayer along the lines of, “God I would really appreciate it if somehow or other you could stop the traffic in the other lane so I could pull in and go straight across the intersection rather than turn.” Since I didn’t bother to flip on my turn signal though I didn’t really expect traffic in the lane I wanted to turn into to stop for me! The light turned green and I watched the big truck next to me lumber forward. I watched the rear-view mirror. The car behind it was sitting still creating a huge space for me to turn into. Not really believing what I was seeing, I asked Brett if there was space for me to pull in and he responded with an affirmative. I pulled into the lane, drove straight across the intersection and turned left into the hotel parking lot. I was mentally shaking my head at what had just happened.

Coincidence?  Possibly.  But, I choose to believe otherwise.  I believe God gave me a gift.  A gift that helped to grow my faith in Him.  To believe He is there in all the small things of the right now, not just the big things of the maybe sometime in the future.  “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?”  Matthew 7:11

I pulled up to the airport anxious to pick up Brett after a five-day separation.  Faulty GPS directions and slowed traffic stretched the drive home past lunch and Aspen’s tummy rumbled in the back seat.  Watching out the window Aspen recognized we were near one of her favorite restaurants, “Panda Express”.  I heard her sweet little voice float up from the back seat, “Mommy, I’m hungry, can we stop at Panda?”  I glanced over at Brett, who was fast asleep, and decided he wouldn’t mind if we stopped to feed our starving child.

A quick trip off the freeway satisfied Aspen’s longing for lunch and she settled back into her car seat with her coveted bag of fried rice and veggie spring rolls.   After munching happily through lunch she rummaged through her bag and pulled out the fortune cookie.  Eagerly tearing open the plastic wrapper she broke  the cookie open looking for the small strip of paper with her future written on it.  Disappointment tinged her voice as I heard her say, “Mommy, there’s no fortune in my cookie.”  She decided a fortune cookie is not a fortune cookie without a fortune, it is just a plain old cookie, which isn’t any fun at all.

Where would the Israelite’s have been when they stood at the Red Sea without the power of God?  Moses could have stood for a week with his arm stretched over the Red Sea, but without the power of God to part it, the waves would have just continued to splash up on the shore as usual.

What would have happened to Daniel when he was thrown in the lion’s den without the power of God to protect him?  It would have been another day someone was eaten by the lions.

What would have happened on the day Jesus fed the 5000 with just five loaves and two fishes?  It would have been another ordinary day with plenty of hungry people.

I don’t have to live my life like an empty fortune cookie.  I can allow God to fill it with His love.  The power of God’s love gives me the strength to die to self and live for Him.  The power of God’s love allows me to seek the good God desires before the good I desire.  When I allow God to fill the emptiness of my life with the power of His love I come closer to living the love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8,  “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”