Lessons learned.

...something I wrote down in my Eucharisteo Thankfulness Journal this morning.

I mentioned having hardships on our family vacation this past week.  Really.  You have no idea the number and craziness of these obstacles.  You would have to laugh... or else you would cry.  One of the more aggravating trials we faced was a broken golf cart on the second day.  Did I mention we were like 400 yards from our dock, and quite a jaunt from the beach as well?  That there are no cars or roads on this island?  Oh, and that I'm 8 months pregnant with bruised heels??  Let's just say I was limited in the area of transportation.

By the end of the second day waiting for our cart to be repaired, I was beginning to wonder if our rental management company was going to do anything at all about our dire straits!  I called and left a message to ensure they knew the urgency.  I was fretting.  I was fretting despite the encouraging Oswald Chambers article about NOT fretting that I posted on facebook just that morning.  I was fretting and restless in spirit despite naming all the ways God was working on our behalf... blessing us with beautiful weather, forced downtime at the beginning of our trip to simply be together as a family, an eager and excited child who was thrilled with our circumstances.  I knew these blessings.  I had been counting them all day (and the day before).  But in a moment of weakness I gave in to my desire to tend to things myself.  I didn't believe God was going to come through for us without my help.  Ouch.

I tossed and turned all night after making that phone call, knowing that I had moved out of a place of rest, trust, and true eucharisteo, and into a place of self-sufficiency and justice.  Ugh.  I had been trying so hard!  I read Psalm 37 that morning.  I started the day with praise, prayer, and thanksgiving.  I embraced the time with my family.  I am so human... and thankfully, His grace is sufficient, His mercies are always new, and His discipline is loving.

So today I am especially thankful for lessons learned.

And I'm reminded once again that God is believable.  He can be fully trusted.  And that He's got my back even when circumstances don't appear favorable.

Be still before the Lord

    and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when people succeed in their ways,

    when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

  do not fret—it leads only to evil.  

The Lord makes firm the steps

 of the one who delights in him;

though he may stumble, he will not fall,

    for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

I was young and now I am old,

  yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

  or their children begging bread.

They are always generous and lend freely;

   their children will be a blessing.

from Psalm 37