Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Starbucks, Snowbanks and The Sink

I love how God teaches lessons. For me they usually come when I least expect them and oft times I find them rather comical. With each lesson I am determined to learn what I am meant to from that experience and take that growth into the next experience and build on it. I believe that our Heavenly Father does things for us to learn from just about every day. But we often times don't pay attention or put a pin in our timeline and come back to that situation where God was faithful and got us out of a tight spot or showered us with the visible love we needed at that moment. Also I'm chief among sinners when it comes to explaining away an event that happened as "well that person would have been coming by anyway," or "it might not have actually been my prayers that God answered..." But in my old age I'm learning that God is ever present in my life because I have invited Him to do so and He really does have my best interest at heart and He is always faithful. I could go on for hours about this subject because I at the ripe old age of 30 I have seen enough and experienced enough to know that God is always faithful. But allow me to share three instances where God did what He does in my life and these events I have put a pin in and come back to them when I'm having a bad day and don't feel like He's there.
Starbucks
Those of you who know me know that Starbucks is my place of choice to purchase coffee. I have passed my love of the coffee chain on to several members of my family including my 6 year old nephew and my 4 year old niece. They are not allowed to consume coffee but still enjoy the atmostphere, or perhaps its the treat they get to pick out and their totally amazing aunt purchases for them. Whatever the reason I'm happy to have tiny Starbucks Buddies.
One day in the recent past I was taking both my niece and nephew to their grandma's house and promised them that if they hurried to get ready they would be rewarded with a stop at Starbucks on the way to Grandma's House. As we drove through town and headed towards the highway my nephew informed me that this was not the way to Starbucks. It's a pain that he has such a good sense of direction. I explained to him that we were not going to the Starbucks he was familiar with and that I knew where a different one was and we would indeed make a Starbucks stop. After a few minutes he started telling me again that we were not going the right way. And an hour later we were still hearing from the peanut gallery and he was adamant that we needed to turn around and go back to get to Starbucks. I was laughing to myself "as much as I love Starbucks (and trust me, I like it a lot) I would sooner skip getting coffee than turn around 1 hour into a 4 hour drive to go back for coffee. That's just silly. My nephew was still concerned that he knew more than I did and I was not listening. After an hour and a half I asked him "do you trust me?" he replied to the affirmative. I asked him if I had ever promised to take him to Starbucks and didn't. He thought and replied, "no." Then I asked him if he knew that I loved him and he replied with a yes. Then I told him that I knew a little bit more than he did and he needed to trust me and just enjoy the ride to Grandma's house. My interrogation produced about 15 minutes of silence from the lad and then he emphatically tried to impress upon me the need to turn around and go back to Starbucks. A few minutes later we pulled into our one of our beloved coffee shops almost 2 hours into our trip and I heard this gasp from the back seat "Oh, Aunt Bekah, this is my favorite Starbucks! Thank you!" I felt God smile and He asked me "do I love you? Do you trust me? Like you know the road to Grandma's house I've seen the road of your life and I know what's up ahead. I've been there already." I laughed and told God, yes I get the point. I thought how silly I must look from the back seat whining "God can we stay here? I'm comfortable here! Daddy, do we have to keep going? I'm tired. Abba, I don't want to be here, there aren't any husbands here. You promised me a husband." As silly as a 6 year old's reasoning was that we should turn around 2 hours into our drive to go back to a familiar place my pleadings and whining to God must look as childish when He knows the road. He built it for crying out loud.
So when I start to get anxious about my future and it seems like I'm waiting longer than I want to for the promised Starbucks, I remember this lesson with my nephew and try to enjoy the ride because it will probably turn out to be my favorite Starbucks.
Snowbank
Another pinned moment for me came 20 minutes before a night shift for the ambulance. I pride myself on being a good driver but this particular stormy winter night I was tired from being over worked and just wanted to get to work so I could set up my bed and get some rest. I had just passed the plow truck because he was being to slow for my liking and took a rather excessive curve a bit too fast for the conditions, something I don't normally do. My car's rear end started to fishtail and using my expert driving skills I thought I had just pulled my car out of a James Bond type situation when my front end decided that it would be happier cooling off in the snowbank. I was stuck. I just in the bank just enough that I couldn't back out. I sat in my car, feeling the stress of being late to work, over tired and having no way out of this predicament I was moments away from a sob-fest 2014. Just before the tears and despair set in I said "nope, I'm not giving up. God has always been faithful, so God, how are you going to get me out of this one?" I crossed my arms and started to think. I could start walking but the nearest place to get a phone was the town I was heading to for work and that was still a good ten miles out. There is no cell service where I was and the road is rarely traveled, especially in a storm. I can count on two hands the number of cars I have passed on that road all winter. Then, not ten seconds after I prayed/whined, a big 250 pick-up truck came in the opposite lane. He stopped and asked if I needed help. I was quite embarrassed to be in the snowbank but graciously accepted whatever help he could offer. To make a long story shorter after a couple attempts to pull me out and the plow truck catching up to us and laying down a few more layers of salt before continuing on, a couple more people driving by stopped to lend a hand. I was amazed that the amount of people that were there. I ended up getting freed from the "banken" and sent on my way to the station, albeit at a bit slower rate of speed and pulled into work just in time for my shift to start. That night I reflected on my recent experience and instead of saying to myself, "well the nice people going by probably would have been going by at that moment had I not prayed." But I quickly dismissed that thought and instead replaced it with the assurance that God is on my side and He will always come through. Even now when something arises and I don't know how its going to work out I think back to the snowbank and remember when God answered a prayer for a tired, cranky girl who was driving too fast and He did it in 10 seconds.
The Sink
I was staying at a friend's house and when I got up in the morning to make breakfast and do some dishes the first rinse that went down the sink produced a clog. I texted my friend at work informing her of the issue. She said if it was grease hot water might work but that there was drain cleaner in the cupboard. I tried all of it through out the course of the day. When she came home from work it was still clogged. Nothing was going through. By now a half of an inch of water/drain cleaner was standing in the sink. It wasn't even very slowly moving like it had been earlier. We went out that night and come home. No change. The following morning it hadn't moved at all. Out of desperation I said "Holy Spirit, please unclog the sink. We really don't want to call a plumber." Not a minute later I came around the corner to see her standing over a completely unclogged sink. I stood in awe. Then I felt sheepish. Why didn't I ask Holy Spirit yesterday? Now at this point my mind wants to jump to the thought "well, maybe the drain cleaner did its thing over night and just broke free at that moment after sitting all night." But I again pushed that thought aside and put a pin in that moment. It is no coincidence that it finally cleared following my prayer. It was just another moment where God used to show me that He is always there and does care about the little things. So the next time I'm faced with something big I'm going to remember Starbucks, the snowbank and the sink.