Time Warp!

Ok, so it has been almost a month since I wrote to you...it feels as though I have been "trapped in a time warp", and have begun to climb my way out! Some amazing things, both positive and negative, have been taking up the majority of the minutes in my days...and nights...lately.

But you know what? Even with seasons like this, God is still in control, He is still on His throne, and He is still awaiting all who are His to join Him in the heavenlies someday. SO, praise be to God in spite of the things that plague us...like terrible flu bugs, and crashing hard drives, and children who just don't feel like doing their schoolwork anymore...and allergies, and workmen finishing projects on the house, and so on and so on...God is still God, and we are still mere humans meandering through our lives here on earth, trying to keep our eyes on our Creator as we battle the silly battles that satan throws at us in an attempt to get us off track...to get us from focusing on the bigger "God picture" for our lives.

In the moments when we are recovering from the flu, or picking up our repaired computers, or shuttling our children on to their next activity, do we search for the glimpse of God in the midst of our trials? Do we praise Him for getting us through? I sure have - especially lately. God has made a point of reminding me how He has been there every step of the way, and I thank Him for it!

I have to confess something to you - and with this, you will know what a loon I really can be. As I picked up my computer from the local fix-it kiosk at the electronics supermart a few weeks ago, and as they handed me a backup copy of all my documents neatly compiled onto a disk, I stood right there in the middle of a bustling store and exclaimed, "praise God, praise God, praise God...oh praise God, the files are all here!" This escaped my mouth long before I could think about what it would look like to any innocent bystanders who happened to be in earshot, or why anyone would want to know how happy I was that those files were saved before the computer was brought back to life as a brand new computer with no memory of what we had been through together. Sometimes, it just feels so good to praise God, especially when a hopeless situation suddenly doesn't seem so hopeless at all. I had my files, and I would even have a better computer as a result...so, what was the problem?!?!? Didn't matter. It was done. And all was "ok".

Needless to say, in the few short days when the computer was totally caput, I was more than irritated, and more than dissappointed in myself that I hadn't done better with backing up my files over the past few months. Even then, I had such a peace that if God wanted me to have those files, then somehow, I would be able to get those files...and praise God, I got them all...and praise God I did...right there in the store lobby. Know what? I didn't get too many weird looks, and I didn't get arrested. So, I feel blessed!

So, with that little praise moment there, hopefully you will take a minute here to think of a time when you have praised God with an uncontainable praise - maybe even in an unlikely location or time. I bet it is still fresh on your mind. Let it sink in once again. Let it run through your mind, giving you a renewed sense of how good it is to praise God when you "just have to", no matter what anyone will say!

Those are times I think of as a "crazy praise", or a praise that is anything but expected at the moment. Sometimes, when you feel like you are "trapped in a time warp", with a million things going on at once, a crazy praise is just what it takes to bring your perspective back to where it always needs to stay....with your focus on God and His creative ways of blessing us throughout our day.

Be blessed, and praise the Lord!

Much love in Christ,

JD