4:23 p.m. Today's project was to pray for the midterm elections throughout the day while going to Bible study, delivering products and preparing for the Holiday Boutique at my friend Marcia's house tomorrow. I'll be one of several vendors, and we'll have cooking demos, lots of discount specials, treats and giveaways. I'll be showing Mary Kay makeup videos on my mini-notebook "Pink Princess" computer, connecting to the WiFi network in her beautiful home.
This is a God-sent opportunity for me to sell inventory during yet another "lean" month. The Lord has sent me several modest sales recently, all very timely. But there will be lots of product to move, gifts and receipt paperwork, as well as supplies for facials to haul over there. And the boutique is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. We vendors have flyered, emailed and Facebooked the event, so it will be totally in the Lord's hands by tomorrow! We need to be "found faithful," and rest in His good work in our behalf.
No small thing in all of this planning was to find a good place for Steve to be for that long. Howard Stevens will pick him up and they will be spending the day together, then going on from there to Wednesday night service. If I can pack up my products speedily, maybe we'll get home at the same time, or I can pick him up from church. How blessed we are to have such good friends, and also our daughter Heidi who will feed the dogs for us!!
My plan, or impulse, as was to fast today for the election, as I have a number of times in the past, for presidential elections, as well as for the first Iraqi election. Ever one to take politics seriously, I will make phone calls, walk for candidates, attend rallies, and send out lots of informative and even funny, emails. As a believer, I am concerned to see the ethics, morals and freedom the nation was founded on and fought for, now slipping away, in one generation! Keep in mind Proverbs 29:2:
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
I was pretty well set with my plan until I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and despite much prayer and calling out to the Lord, absolutely could not get back to sleep! Having read the advice of sleep professionals, I finally got out of bed, went downstairs,paid bills and organized paperwork. The dogs in their crates didn't even utter a peep. I trudged back upstairs, getting in maybe half an hour of sleep before my 6:30 alarm sounded. With Bible study on tap, there was no hitting the snooze button today!
Now it was decision time. With no sleep, and it being my turn to drive with my neighbor Cindy out to Calvary Moreno Valley, would going without food today be safe or appropriate? So I poured my coffee, went about my devotions, prayed, journalled, and lifted the day and the national issues up to the Lord. Already weak and shaky, I decided (since I had no compelling leading from the Lord to fast) to eat my usual scrambled egg breakfast. No sense falling asleep behind the wheel at freeway speed, or falling asleep at Bible study when I needed to be focused throughout, as well as alert to the Spirit's prompting in ministering to sisters who came forward for prayer at the study's conclusion.
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiates 5:2,
Do not be rash with your mouth,
And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God.
For God is in heaven, and you on earth;
Therefore, let your words be few.
Continuing on to verse 4-5,
When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it;
For He has no pleasure in fools.
Pay what you have vowed--
Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
Good thing I did not set myself up with a foolish vow to fast, as if there is a formula for election results to honor Him! God says in Isaiah 43:19a, "Behold, I will do a new thing." As Creator and Lord of the universe, God is not limited to my ideas and spiritual ambitions!
I am still lifting up states and congressional districts in prayer, but after normal meals and a little nap, am definitely invigorated to spend this evening with Steve! We'll need this time to prepare for his day away with the Stevenses, and I'll need to get my supplies and contribution to the vendor luncheon ready for the boutique tomorrow. Tonight's Heart to Home class is in the capable hands of veteran instructor Christine O'Dell, and the women are in for a blessed and productive time. Rather than long to be indispensable to that ministry, I rejoice in the maturity and willingness of women to step forward and serve! Steve and I even got in a much-needed, refreshing walk on "the hill!"
Father, help us to know when to work, and when to allow You to give us rest and renewal!
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