Life’s Frustrations

We own a renovated, preciously cute rental home and love seeing it taken care of by our priceless renters. But, the day after Christmas a constant 3-days of unrelenting rain ruined the 3-year old furnace beyond repair. It was a devastating way to end the year and a costly one that we hadn’t anticipated.

It’s times like this that I find myself questioning ‘Why’? Didn’t God care that we had to cancel our Christmas gift for each other—renovating our home bathroom—to pay for a costly unexpected repair in our rented home. Didn’t He know how excited we had been with the plans to put in a walk-in shower replacing an old fiberglass tub and shower?

But, after a couple of sleepless nights, I began to realize that my worrying and questioning of God was unfair and wrong. What right did I have to be smug in my thoughts of a worthy entitlement? A new beautiful walk-in shower was not something I deserved or necessarily had to have. It was something that I selfishly felt I needed and wanted.

And I realized in today’s society, it is commonplace to believe we deserve something when in reality everything we have is a blessing from God. I must live in the 21^st century but not copy all of the 21^st century ideals. I must heed more attention to Ephesians 5:15.

It’s hard to see blessings when our pride gets in the way. When we question why God gives us somethings but not all the things we desire, we’re subtly saying that we know better than God. I need to listen to the Word of God: “I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing Your praise before the heavenly beings.” (Psalm 138:1)

We are able to pay for this costly and unexpected expense; and we are thankful for that. We can wait on the bathroom renovation another year. And we are grateful that we know personally the owner of the company who put in our new furnace; he was able to have this new furnace up and running before the weather changed to more seasonably cold temperatures.

Today I can rejoice in Colossians 3:16: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

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“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances…” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18