I love Mondays

3:47 p.m. Today's project, after recovering from a hectic weekend, was to go the the Jurupa District Office to pay my health insurance bill. It was very windy, so I nixed the idea of taking the 60 freeway west. The stretch of freeway between Riverside and Ontario is almost totally open for the wind to come blasting through, and notorious for overturned big rigs. My Jeep has a fairly high profile, so why take the chance? And I saw no need to have debris blown at me either. So I took Central out to Van Buren, for a smooth and peaceful drive until I made the right turn north, and traffic slowed to a crawl!

The bridge-widening project was in full production, and I'm glad. Many years teaching in Pedley caused me to drive home over this 4 lane bridge that carries some of the heaviest trafic in the County--from Jurupa in the north, then south past Riverside, Woodcrest , Orangecrest, and the Veterans' cemetery all the way to the 215 freeway. One year due to rains, a massive sinkhole appeared before Cal Trans could put up a sign, collapsing one lane altogether, trapping us and squeezing us out one car at a time over the bridge!

I used the time to prayerfully plan some changes to my "friends and family"cell phone plan, like putting my dad's phone on prepay, since he never uses it; and possibly doing the same for my husband, because he can no longer dial numbers--it's just too long between punches on the keypad for the complete phone number to connect. In the district office's lobby, I spoke with the representative, and discovered that for now, prepay would not be any cheaper, but I'll probably be disconnecting Steve's phone in the next year if he cannot even answer it or dial 911. I will certainly make that a matter of prayer, because it would take away another layer of independence. Even though I am on a "scorched earth" cost-cutting campaign, I don't want Steve to be hurt over something that might not make a huge financial difference.

Ephesians 4:32 tells us, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted..." and that's what I intend to be!

On this taking care-of-business day, I contacted our longterm care insurance agent to see how much money has accumulated for Steve'care, so the I might be a wise steward of the funds in the coming years. Thank you, Lord, that I will be able to have in-home care for Steve for a number of years! And should I become ill or incapacitated, my policy will provide peace of mind to our children.

While we pray, plan, and prepare for our loved ones' care, believers know that God can heal, provide, and produce sources of income and blessing we didn't even know were there! A verse I love to quote often, John 10:10, says this of His people, the sheep of His pasture:

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (KJV)

My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. (NLT) And that doesn't necessarily mean having money!

I've never seen the point of envying others for their possessions of any sort, personal or financial. Steve and I have been well off, and now we aren't, pure and simple! What of it? Paul said in Philippians 4:12, "I know both how to be abased and how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."

And whether I have a little or a lot to work with, I can enjoy taking care of business every Monday!