When you know it's God...

Call me Hard-headed, a little dense, a little slow on the start.... but I have discovered a pattern in my walk as of late. This will be nothing new to most of you. Most of you have figured this one out a long time ago. But some of you still struggle with learning this little dance that we do with God. And because the signs were overly abundant yesterday for both myself and Sister Sarah Klugh, I just had to share this experience with you.

So, let's just say I had a WEEK last week. Everytime I turned around, something was trying to get me down. People weren't showing up for rehearsals, I couldn't get my house clean because of messy children, I couldn't get laundry done because of the rain, and to top it all off, I splashed a little tiny bit of my beverage on my keyboard, and shorted the whole thing out. There I was, for nearly two days taking all my keys off my laptop to clean the contacts, inside wanting so much to dedicate some time to this blog, but absolutely without the tools to do it.

I'll admit it - initially there were tears and grumblings. I was frustrated, tired, anxious, overwhelmed. NOTHING was going the way I wanted it to go.

At times, I wanted to scream. But deep inside, I kept hearing a voice say, "Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS, again I say Rejoice!' Somehow, I was able to thank God for taking out my computer. Without my computer, I could get more cleaning done. I thanked God that I have a dryer, I could still get laundry done. I thanked God for my messy kids, because they are still pure joy to me. I thanked God for my messy house, because at least I have a house - a roof over my head, food on the table, dishes, everything that contributes to this messy house is a blessing, not a curse.

So, once I got to this place of rejoicing, things started turning around for the better. God again paved my way, lifted me up. Just as I had intimated to you in my post, "Getting Really Personal..." in the moment of my anguish, God revealed to me that for which I need to give thanks and rejoice. The moment I began to rejoice, the strength of the Lord was restored to me, and I was able to go forward. The morning after I gave thanks, I woke up to my computer being completely fixed. It was as if nothing had happened!

Yesterday, Sarah called me, relatively distraught. She had been so excited to spend time with her fiance, as he was coming through on his way to Pittsburgh. Half way through New York, he had to turn around and go to Cape Cod. If you follow Sarah's blog at http://inhisfavourislife.blogspot.com you'll see she has been very frustrated with being patient as of late.

Before I even knew the words were coming out of my mouth, I said, "Sarah, God is testing you. Why don't you come over and hang out with me?"

She came over and we went for a drive. She asked, "So you really think God is testing me?" I shared with her the lesson I learned throughout the week. When Phillippians 4:4 says "Rejoice in the Lord always... " it means: Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS. I recounted the week's events to her. I told her she needs to remember that it is when we get down in our own state, and take our eyes off God that Satan is most likely to trip us up. It is when we are weakened, that Satan can and will attack and pull us away from God. So it is, when we are experiencing trials, we need to rejoice, and only then will God's blessings flow.

A minute later, my cellphone rang. It was Sarah's mom. Henry was on his way.

Then, as if we needed one more sign to "seal the deal", Dr. Tony Evans came over the radio station, WGRC, and reiterated this EXACT message. Sarah and I just looked at each other and laughed, completely lifted up, basking in our new friendship and Sisterhood in Christ, and knowing...

It's God.