Surprising Storage and Shipwrecks

This has definitely been a "no time to write" week.  Having people stay in your house while you're away and live in every room, every drawer, every dusty nook and cranny has certainly pushed us to get our home in order inside and outside.  So I'm still up early, but not writing....

Yet, God has still been at work.  This summer I was forced to start in the basement and sort all through the storage bins, as I've written before, and so I did.  The problem was they couldn't go back in the basement, it needs more surgery, which won't happen until either the Fall or who knows when....so where to put them in the meantime?  It seemed obvious, put them in the barn, so we did!  But then, they were blocking all the paths to get to the animals, so we knew that wasn't going to work long term, what then?  A miracle, as usual!

On the main floor of the barn, way at the back, is this little storage room, actually two rooms.  I had only been in their once in the whole 5 years we'd lived here and it was stinky and full of boxes of old jars (probably worth something).  I never thought twice about it, but then it occurred to RM to clean it out and put all the bins in there. 

When I found out the room was cleaned, I went in for a look.  When I opened the door, I felt like I had walked into a beautiful, old farmhouse, complete with a little window for light.  My boys had done a great job.  Suddenly all I saw was the antique wood on the floor and the incredible beams above.  I didn't want to put my bins in there!  I wanted to move in!  But alas, the bins went in and what is so amazing is that they will stay dry, away from cows and horses and feed bags.  They might get the odd spider, but that is fine.  It is spacious, organized and only a short walk away from the house.  What a gift!  It's neat to think that is was there all along, but I just never knew it.  It took us fixing the basement to figure this out.  God had a plan the whole time.

We're now only days away from leaving on our vacation.  The kids are getting excited, but oddly, I was getting fearful that something would keep us from going away.  Then, on Sunday, the van engine light went on.  Oh no.  Suddenly I pictured it, not having a way to get down there.  On Monday, RM would be away, so I knew he wouldn't be able to take the van to get looked at that day, adding more delay to the fixing time.  That morning, I read a verse that changed everything.  Acts 27:43, 44 "He ordered those could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship.  And so it was that all were brought safely to land."

That was it!  I quickly grabbed the kids and shared with them what I had learned.  The devotional I had read shared how God sometimes doesn't perform the miracles that He could.  He didn't stop the storm, He didn't spare the boat, He didn't send a cruise ship to rescue.  Those on the ship actually had to jump into the water and swim or grab pieces of wreckage!  So I told the kids that God could send us a brand new van, but He probably wouldn't.  He could send us free tickets to North Carolina, but He probably wouldn't.   I joked that He might just have us walk, or bike, or swim or fly, but the point was "that all were brought safely to land."  That's when I stopped worrying what was going to happen.  I knew God would get us safely to NC.  So we prayed that the van could get fixed and that God would work out some way to get us down there.

Sure enough, they figured out what it was pretty quickly.  It got fixed and fortunately for us it happened before we left, not on the way!  We'll be able to pay for it when we get back as money is coming in almost as soon as we return.  All in all, I look at it as another trial we needed to go through just to see how God would work.  I'm so grateful!

It's my new favourite phrase, "I'm shipwrecked!"  I've shared it with more than one person already because being shipwrecked and grabbing a piece of wreckage is actually God at work even though we want the quick rescue.  I'm sure Paul was crying out for a miracle, but God sent a plank.  I love that.  Something so ordinary.  To think that God actually allows the storm is another amazing thought.  Yet, all "were brought safely to land."  He did rescue them, just not how they had all planned, nor how I had planned.

Like I said, the kids are counting down the days.  I'll believe it when I'm in the van, driving down the road.  I still can't believe it's happening.  Today, as if I have time, I'm going to buy cucumbers and even try to do some canning of cucumbers before I go.  Why not?  I'm so "country-fied" now.  I'm afraid I'll miss the harvest while I'm gone!  My city friends would be proud.  My new country friends would be disappointed if I didn't!  So, it's going to be a busy few days before departure.....but fun.  Hopefully no more shipwrecks before we leave, but I'll try to remember that God is in the storm even if it does happen.