Cursing and Praising God

I was goofing off in this picture, but whatever.  Let's pretend for a moment it's a legitimate moment of distraught frustration.

Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  

My sitter got a late start on account of snow and traffic which made me late for work.  As I pulled into the parking lot, my tire hit a pothole and I got a flat.  The biting cold nearly turned me into a popsicle, and then a UPS driver just about ran me over accidentally because he couldn't see me crossing the street (I had the light).

Work, itself, was a symphony of insanity.  Folks needed things ordered yesterday, two closets needed to be completely reconfigured so as not to pose a fire hazard, database changes from angry callers were pouring in, and to top it off, my second babysitter (for the 2-5 shift) got the dates wrong and just no-showed, causing me to fly home (with the flat tire, PRAYING the entire way home that I made it) way earlier than I should have had to relieve Chrissy.  

Uuuuuuuuugh.

I haven't felt this frustrated and frazzled in a while.  I was near tears on the way home because I just felt like everything - EVERYTHING - was out to get me.  It was so frustrating.

I kept getting annoyed at God.  "Why are you doing this?  What in the world did I do to you???  C'mon with the onslaught of tests, already."

That sort of mindset.  Things don't just fall apart like this.  I started getting anxious that the day was going to get worse, and given that my husband was taking two planes, I was on edge.  

When I finally did get home, Vincent was in the mood to play, play, play, so there was no rest for the frazzled.  I had almost forgotten my friend, Jay, was coming by until he messaged me to let me know he was on his way.

Thank God for Jay!  A big bright spot at the end of the symphony of dark.  

We went out to Chik-Fil-A together.  Vince loves Jay, so he was all sorts of excited to have his best buddy to romp around with.  However, after he ate, Vince found a friend whom he went off to play with, content to forget about Jay and I while we caught up.  

We hung out at Chik-Fil-A for about two hours, and in that time all the stress from the day seeped out of me.  By the time Jay and I hugged goodbye, I was in a much, much happier place.

And I realized while talking to Jay that I should've kept my cool all along.  Things always happen for a reason.  I know that.  I've witnessed it.  However, I couldn't see the forest for the trees today because my own short-sightedness.  God had His Hand in everything.

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Jay and I

Firstly, had my sitter not been late, I would have been in work before my coworker had the chance to request I drive to Staples to pick up some supplies she hadn't realized she'd need.  That means I would've been forced to walk around in the frigid air over several blocks twice over trying to lug the materials back from the closest Staples.  Instead, I was able to pick everything up on my way into work.

As for the frigid air, itself, that was the prime reason I'm not road kill.  Usually my hood is wrapped up over my face and I can't hear anything.  Just before I crossed in front of the truck, a huge gust of wind blew my hood off my head.  I then heard the revving of his engine and ran out of the road, just in time to stare him down with my best "What in God's Name were you THINKING?!" face.

God didn't want me to be squished, so He used the weather I hated to clear my ears.  Fancy that!

The cherry on top was my sitter no-showing.  You'd think that'd be the worst of all given I was freaking out about leaving work and trying to get home with a flat tire with no notice at all.  However, had my sitter shown up on time, I might not have gotten home at all. 

Why?

Because when I ran back to my car, I remembered about the flat tire.  I drove it to the nearest gas station to see if they could do anything about it so I could safely get home. They couldn't, but the customer behind me just happened to have Fix-a-Flat in his car that he put in for me.  

Had I not left the office on account of my sitter, I would have never bumped into this customer and I might still be waiting for AAA somewhere on the side of the road.

So really, why was I angrily calling God out for leaving me high and dry?  If anything, I should be thanking my lucky stars He lined everything up for me.  Life happens.  We live in an imperfect world.  He, however, can make sure we've got things ready for those moments we unexpectedly need some Divine Intervention.

And yes, I just considered Fix-a-Flat Divine Intervention.

So next time Life has you wanting to stab things with sporks, look around.  God's got you covered.  

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