Five silent hours

9:20 p.m Today's project was to spend the day with my dad while he checked on the papers in the file cabinets he had my youngest son move to my house and picked up some items at his house in Redlands. We had hoped to visit Steve at the end of the errands, but the day got away from us, so we'll go another time.

While we were at my house, my friend Debi came over to do some straightening up of my files, actually my customer profile cards. What happens is, over five years, I'll pull out the cards of selected customers, depending upon their needs, and then simply fail to return the cards to their proper section of the expandable file. But what to do with the pileup of a few hundred cards, and receipts for multiple sales to many of the women is not simple at all! Debi and I spent some time before I managed to decide that she'd sort them into alphabetical order first, then chronological order by dates of purchase.  I have a beautiful gift already selected, and can't wait to give it to Debi, who recently came out of a hospital stay and now is definitely on the upswing. Gift giving is noted in scripture. Proverbs 17:8:

A present is a precious stone in the eyes of the possessor; wherever he turns, he prospers.

At noon, all of us left. Debi had made good progress in a little over an hour. We said good bye, I checked the dogs' water, let my dad into the Jeep, and returned to set the alarm, and made one final check of my bag: keys, sunglasses, cell phone. Whoops, where was my phone? I went out to the driveway to start the car so the A/C would come on for Daddy, and went back into the house, searching every room where I'd been, downstairs and up, twice. I finally had to get on the way to Redlands, leaving my trusted personal, ministry and business tool, my Samsung Stratosphere smart phone behind.

I was suddenly incommunicado!

Driving with an 85-year-old who didn't even bring the cell phone I bought him and have been paying for for years, was no help. And how could I tell anyone to call my phone with theirs? Mine was on vibrate as usual. While we waited for a super long freight train to pass in the canyon, I took everything out of my purse one more time--no phone. It was time to wait and see what God had for me this afternoon! And there'd be no point in wondering which of the kids, friends, family, or customers was trying to call me, or what I was missing from the world of Facebook and Gmail. This odd happening was definitely out of my plan! Proverbs 16:33 says,

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every outcome is from the LORD.

So 5 hours of "radio silence" ensued, but interestingly, they brought with them 5 hours of focus. At my dad' house, I did use his landline to call each of my daughters, because they are second and third in line for a phone call if an emergency happens with Steve. My mind was also set at ease because I realized that I could use my computer at home later to notify people of my missing phone, and let them communicate with in other ways.  Taking advantage of what I now saw as a provision from the Lord, I was able to fully concentrate on my dad and his needs. After I dropped Daddy off, I drove to Steve's residence without worrying about anything other than having a nice visit, reading to him from Genesis 2 about the man and woman, and from a devotional with brief, witty passsages that keep his attention.

At home finally, the Lord showed me where the phone was, and also showed me that removing distractions is necessary at times other than early morning devotions. God is able to provide an island of safety, peace, and attentiveness to the voice of the Holy Spirit even in a busy day--an improved day!

God is superabundantly good--may we never forget that.

(And I did find my phone, up on  a windowsill in the master bedroom).

Believer, what seeingly minor, but irritating, circumstance is occuring in your life today that God wants to use to shape your character? Find the way He has for you to flow with it, in the power of the Holy Spirit!