Daily Devotional #1,604

I just got back from vacation. We had booked our place for the family back about December of last year. We watched month after month pass by with increasing anticipation for having the family together at the beach. Finally, the day came and we caravanned off to the ocean! We opened the house, got settled in and the next day we were in the waters of the Pacific. I like to bodyboard and the first three times I caught waves that day, I had three great rides back to the beach. It was cold, but it was worth it! I just felt chilled and because it was so cold the next day, we just did some exploring. I really felt tired...from my first day in the water...I thought. That night I got really sick. And after a day someone suggested that they get me a COVID test...you know, just in case. On the tests they warn you to wait at least 15 minutes in order to give the test a chance to be accurate. Two minutes was all it took, and I saw I had COVID for the third time now! And...my vacation was over. I felt crummy, wore a mask and even deliberated about finding a way back home. I had already exposed everyone and was staying as far from them as possible, so it was pretty much a done deal. But my family vacation...all those months, all those plans were gone. So, what do you do when life doesn’t turn out the way you thought it should? How do you feel? Cheated? Resentful? Depressed? Yeah...but where is God in all of this? Could he have stopped this? Sure...as a matter of fact I was as healthy as a horse, until I went on vacation! What could be more important than a chance to relax and regroup and to reconnect with all my family? Well, one thing that I learned again that was more important was to trust in God. That’s easy to say when everything is going great, I am getting my way and I’m getting to do what I want to do. But when that doesn’t happen...then you have to trust in God. As I was laying there, I thought about the Bible verse that we taught all the kids in our VBS earlier this summer. It is this...Psalms 56:3 NLT “ But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” I said that a lot, because I was a part of a great team teaching kids that verse and now I got to live it. What was there to be afraid of? Afraid of being cheated out of what I thought I was owed. Afraid of losing out on that time that won’t come around for another year. Afraid of missing the fun that everyone else was having. So how do you put your trust in God when you are afraid that you are going to be “cheated” by life or even by others? Well, the Bible says first thing is to not worry about it...but to pray about everything. Don’t complain to others...tell God what you are feeling and what you need. And then to look backwards and thank him for all he has done. And when you do that, then you won’t be scrambling around trying to get back what you think you have lost by any means possible. Instead, you get to experience God’s peace...and no, you won’t understand it. But you will experience it and even enjoy it. But you cannot experience it unless you go through disappointments and the failure of your own plans. If you are not experiencing loss right now...hang on, it will come. And then and only then will you have the opportunity to stop, quit worrying about trying to control your world and instead pray...about everything! And that peace...it will guard your heart and your mind against resentment and self-pity and let you live not in anger or bitterness, but in the love and kindness of Jesus and realize that he has a great big, beautiful tomorrow for you...if you will only trust in him.
 
Here’s our Bible verse for today...

Philippians 4:6-7 NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. (7) Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ