Find Faith, Hope, and Encouragement for Your Walk with God

Anyone that knows me can tell you I struggle with being still. We laughed the other day at work when we were talking about the latest each of us would drink caffeine in the day. I told them about 8:00 AM for me-and that is for everyone’s sake! Maybe you have had those days where you go non stop, moving from one task list to another one and before you realize it, the entire day has passed. That has been my last few weeks. Between moving and unpacking boxes to traveling with work, I have been bouncing from one thing to another. My focus quickly shifts throughout the day from family, to civilian job, to military and back to family. The days when all my worlds collide and are active at the same time are few and far between, but when it happens, it is non stop! Have you ever had those days? God reminds us to “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalms 46:10, NIV).

The weekend started with a few simple words from Rob- we are going to tackle the boxes in the garage. When I heard these words and looked at our garage filled with moving boxes, I felt we had a near impossible task before us. There was no way we were going to go through 19 years of boxes in one weekend. Saturday morning came early as we worked to beat the rain and take advantage of being able to use the driveway to sort through the boxes and at least make lanes where we could walk in and out of the garage. The hours seemed to slip away as my frustration in weak and broken cardboard boxes escalated with every rip or tear of a handle or crushed box found at the bottom of a pile. I lost count of the trips Rob made to the dumpster and couldn’t believe how much artwork and books we owned! That day ended with a truckload of items to donate under a tarp held down creatively since we had yet to find all our tie downs. The next day felt like rinse and repeat. We started early and all the progress made the prior day seemed to disappear as we continued to sort through the remaining boxes. Before long, we not only had paths in the garage, we had sorted all that remained and cleared out more truckloads of trash and donations. The impossible was accomplished. “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Proverbs 14: 23, NIV)

I went to a fundraising event last night and as I listened to the speaker, I heard something that I had never recognized in all the times I had read or heard the story of David defeating Goliath. David knocked Goliath down with the smooth stones and his slingshot, but as he lay on the ground he cut his head off with his own sword. What the enemy intended for harm, God turned as a weapon against the enemy. How did I miss this? I always focused on the size difference and how David was an unexpected warrior. I focused on David’s trust in God knowing that God would give him a victory over this giant. I never thought of how this story relates to this recent season in my life-that what the enemy means for harm, God will use for good. Wow! “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head…So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.” (1 Samuel 17: 45-46, 50-51, NIV)