In The Hands

It was a day that began with me out of control...no, I don't mean crazy, emotionally unstable out of control.  I mean that I had plans for the morning...simple plans.  Get up and go to work.
But I lost control of the day when my car would not start.  Not even a satisfying "click" to let me know the car could still make a noise...nothing.  Total quiet.

So I started making more plans.  I called people, friends and family seeking a ride.  I had to put the task of getting myself to work into the hands of someone else.
It worked out though and I realized how many good friends and family I have :)
My next task was to work on a certain project and finish it at my job.  Simple.  Go in, sit down, work, finish, move on.
Only it was not so simple.  Phone calls.  Interruptions.  More phone calls.  Visitors.

Each time I would get going there would be an interruption...I didn't get mad.  I got slow.  That is what happens when I have a one track mind and the train on that track gets derailed.  It takes some time to get back on track.  Several issues needed to be dealt with and I was not sure how to deal with them.  I had to ask for help. I had to put the decision making into the hands of someone else.
I had made more plans for the afternoon but due to the car I had to cancel those plans and do some rescheduling.
Once I did get home, I planned to make supper and eat and rest.

I got another phone call of a friend who happened to have some clothes to give away and did I want them for my husband?  Yes!  A blessing!  But again...the plans I had made for the rest after supper were put on hold.  I put those plans in the Hands  of the Lord and took the opportunity He placed before us for needed clothes.
My plans have a way of more often than not being disrupted.
And in the past I have seen this as a source of frustration.
But I am realizing that interruptions are not frustrations if I view them in the right light...they are opportunities.  Opportunities to place the feeble plans I made in the Hands  of One more capable than I and to let Him change them to accomplish His purposes...which are infinitely more important than my own little plans of "success" and "rest".   Not that it is bad to plan to succeed or to plan rest into your life...that's okay as long as you realize that God may have a different plan.  His plan may be to lead you in a different direction or it may be to just have you turn over your plans into His hands.

When you think about it, that's really where it all is anyway.  It is all in the Lord's good hands.
So it boils down to a matter of trust.
If you are a Christian and claim to belong to Jesus, then are you trusting your Heavenly Father?
Or are you running around thinking you know best?

Satan has always lied from the beginning of this earth.  And he still lies today to people.  He will tell you that all of this trouble you are dealing with, this suffering means that God does not care about you.  He will tell you that you need to take matters into your own hands.  He will lie.  Because that is what he does.

Don't believe the lies.  Who really wants to believe a lie?  Think about it.  Has there ever been a time that someone lied to you and afterwards - when you knew the truth - you thought to yourself, "You know, I really enjoyed being lied to and deceived.  I think I will keep hanging around that person so they can lie to me some more."

Usually once we have been lied to, we don't trust again.  But satan is tricky that way.  He will keep deceiving you as long as he can...and he hopes that it is too late for you to realize that it is a deception.

What about this?  What about if you were believing someone who said they could take your life savings and double it for you in just thirty days?  They gave you story after story telling you of other people who had done it and were happy. Yet what if someone else came up and said, "I know you want to double your life savings...but this is not the way.  This dude is a con artist.  He will lie to you, steal from you and destroy you."

Who would you believe?  I hope you would at least exercise some caution and check into the credentials of the one you put all your hopes and dreams and money with.  And what if you found out that the informer was right?  That the dude was a con man?  Would you be mad at the informer or appreciative?

Well, you might be disappointed that you weren't going to get your money doubled but I bet you would be pretty happy that you didn't lose your life savings!

So why, when satan shows up with these lies about God, do people- Christians and non-Christians - believe them?  Is it because we want to believe the lies rather than the truth?  That is what the Bible says.  Listen.

"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth,  that they might be saved.  And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."    2 Thessalonians 2:13

We have to trust our Heavenly Father and believe what He says...and how to know that but to read His Word?   We have to place our days and our plans and our interruptions into His capable and wise and good Hands and let them rest there with Him.

When the car wouldn't start?  I found the hands of the Father showing me how many people are willing to help me.  I found the hands of the Father giving me another half hour to spend with my son, setting an example of how to make the best out of things.  I found the hands of the Father showing me what blessings He had placed in my life with family and friends and a husband who can fix things.

When my day was filled with interruptions?  I found the hands of the Father in sharing the burden I was bearing with someone else.  I found the hands of the Father in seeing the wisdom that comes from seeking godly counsel.  I found the hands of the Father  in opportunities to pray for someone else who needed encouragement.

When the rest I had expected had to be postponed?  I found the hands of the Father  in the blessing of clothing and shoes for my family.  I found the hands of the Father in a slowed-down visit with people I love that I do not get to see as much as I wish.  I found the hands of the Father in a drive with my husband and a sweet talk to go along with the drive.

The apostle Paul says to the Christians living in Thessalonia in his second letter, "Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter..."  2 Thessalonians 1,2

These Christians were restless and confused and fearful because of false teachers who had been playing on their hopes and fears and creating a wildness about speculation regarding Christ's Second Coming.  Paul was telling them that they did not need to fear.  The unbeliever has a future that holds terrible judgment, but Christians do not have to fear the end because it is in the Hands of God.

Today in the whisper of life, I found the Hands of God all around me, holding me.  Where did you hear the whisper of God today?