Bumps, Bends, and Miracles

My life has had many bumps and bends, but through a series of amazing circumstances (a story for another time), God has promised that the last half of my life would be better than the first.

It sure didn't look like that at first. The road appeared to be filled with as many bumps and potholes as the first half: lost jobs, health issues, and financial crises - until unimaginable miracles began.

There were many, many miracles, but today I want to thank God for a few of the more extraordinary ones, like His paying off my small business debt, an insurance company insisting on paying a death benefit twice, and the purchase of a home without any money for a down payment and little income.

Martha, Don't Look!

Where does the time go? Every day I promise myself to step back, take a deep breath and enjoy my cup of coffee a bit longer, spend more time in conversation with my husband, talk more often to friends and family, and take time to read a little more, but it seems I am always racing the clock.

In my morning devotions, the scripture detailed how often Jesus stepped out alone into the desert to pray. We Martha's have a hard time relating to that. What? Just drop everything and go off by ourselves? Who has the time to do that? Our world would just fall apart, wouldn't it?

Who would do all the dishes, the laundry, cook, clean, pay bills, and run errands while we were off selfishly indulging in quiet time? We'd be so far behind on our To-Do-List we'd never catch up, right?

 Maybe not. What if we actually allowed someone else to help - without criticizing how they did it?

I received a personal lesson in this when my husband retired. My sweetheart offered to take over all the household chores - all of them - until I could retire. You bet I took him up on that, until -

Yes.  I noticed things.