I am not gonna let broken appliances steal my joy!!! OK you may think well duh!! I am not exaggerating when I say that EVERY appliance in my house has broken in the last 12 months.
First it was the dishwasher. I really can't remember what was wrong with it. Just that it quit. We had purchased a portable dishwasher before we moved here so, we just converted it to a permanent. Then, this summer while we were on vacation to Florida our air conditioner compressor quit....yeah that was a fun 20 hr trip home with NO a/c....
Then just a couple of days after we were home from vacation we noticed our central air conditioning was not keeping up with the temp. It was set on 70 but running 75 in the house. One hundred and sixty dollars and a day later we realized the attic fan was on sucking all the cool air out! It was about that time we noticed our less than 5 year old refrigerator didn't seem to be cooling right. I about lost it!
Every time something breaks all I see is $$$$ (dollar signs)! My husband is a great father and good at many things....but, a handy man he is not! So, every broken appliance means a call to the handyman with is NEVER cheap!! (I know, I have friends who's husbands try to fix everything and they wished their husbands would call the repairman....we are never happy!) I seriously laid hands on my fridge and prayed for it....it lasted a couple of additional months. The repairman told us it would cost more to fix the fridge than buy a new one.
In February, the day before I left for Women of Faith All Access in Nashville I noticed the less than two year old dryer was not heating! Luckily we did purchase the extended warranty. Although I think they warranty people think that you will give up and just pay someone to fix it......two weeks and several trips to the laundry mat (made by my husband) our dryer had a brand new heating element!
A couple of weeks ago I had put a roast in the oven for dinner one Thursday afternoon. I was getting ready to leave for Bible study, I got the roast out of the oven and Jason says, "that doesn't look done." Impossible! It has been in the oven for 3 hrs! Sure enough the baking element went out. I had to bake Jake's birthday cake at a friends house.
Each time one of these things break I start to get a knot in my stomach and begin to worry how we will fix it and how will we pay for it. Each time God has provided......
I have really been struggling this week emotionally and spiritually. For many reasons (not the appliances). Some I cannot post about and some related to my boys and their struggles at school. In Bible study Thursday night we were talking about fear and how "Do Not Fear" is the command given the most times in scripture. I said to the ladies, "We need to keep our focus vertical, not horizontal. Our focus on God and not on all the things going on around us...." DOINK! I felt like God thumped me in the head and said, "UH HUH!" I just looked at the ladies and said, "It is easy for me to say and so hard for me to do sometimes. I have really failed at this this week." I got a fresh perspective. It is like when the disciples were in the boat on the lake in Matthew 14. They were afraid of the storm going on around them. Jesus was walking on the water, and Peter step out by faith and walked on the water too. In spite of the storm that was still going on around him. When he focused on Jesus he was able to walk on the water. When Peter took his focus off of God he began to sink.
That is what I do spiritually. I start to focus on all the storms around me (some BIG and some small) and not on God and have faith that He has it all under control. Jesus said to Peter, "You of little faith. Why do you doubt me?" Matthew 14:31.The very definition of faith is focusing on what is unseen and not on what is seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
So, after having this fresh perspective and a new focus....on Saturday as I am rockin out to Natalie Grant's Love Revolution CD and sweeping my kitchen floor, my washer starts beeping at me and giving me a warning that says "nd" which means not draining.....and then as I am tucking Emma in last night she says, "my TV won't work" on investigation neither will her light and the plug-in in her room is shot. So, as I start to get nervous about how in the world we will afford an electrician and how can I go without a washer. I remember. Focus! God is in control! Satan is trying his best to steal my focus.....Broken appliances are NOT going to steal my joy!!!
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