Awhile back, two of my friends and I took a road trip to attend a ladies’ retreat in the mountains; about an 8 hour drive from our homes. (Of course, that’s just the drive time; we stopped at Cracker Barrel going and coming. The two in one experience–eating and shopping, you know. Well then, let’s say 8+ hours.) We learned a lot about each other, made a heap of memories, and discovered a rather unique character trait possessed by God. It has taken numerous experiences for God to teach me that He can work things out without me fretting and worrying over how He’s going to do it. So while I have been blessed by this trait of God’s, it wasn’t until this trip that I found a name for it. And here it is:
Logistics Coordinator!
A logistics coordinator, by definition, is someone who plans, implements, and coordinates the details for someone else. After reading the illustration below, followed by the 2nd illustration in my next blog post, I hope it will become clear to you that acknowledging God’s ability to work things out for our good (Romans 8:28), is a powerful weapon in defeating worry. So, let’s begin!
Illustration No. 1
My friends and I were driving to a quaint little restaurant in the mountains for lunch. We had driven to this little lakeside restaurant the day before but had arrived too late to eat. This time we left early enough to arrive in time for lunch and to enjoy a spectacular view in the process. But while time was on our side as we made our way towards the restaurant on that picture perfect spring day, my gas gauge was not! I notified my friends that we were getting rather low on gas and it might be a good idea to pray. None of us could remember exactly how much further the restaurant was or even IF we had enough gas to get us there. So, we prayed for a gas station!
Now, here’s where the connection to Worry comes into play. Under the circumstances, I am sure you can understand why we were sorely tempted to fret and worry. You name the fiery darts that would be apparent on such an occasion and believe me Satan shot them at us. And as I watched that gas gauge move closer and closer to the empty mark, and no gas station or restaurant yet appeared on the near horizon, I felt it was necessary that I come up with a plan just in case God’s plan was NOT to get us to a gas station in time. I knew that my friends at the camp would come to our rescue, if needed. But then we were in the mountains and cell reception was ‘iffy’ at best. (Okay, sometimes you can over think a situation!)
I resisted the fiery darts with all the strength I could muster from my lessons on how to fight (and win) against such negative thinking. I called on the 3 R’s of fighting fiery darts: 1)recognize the fiery darts 2) resist the fiery darts 3) replace the fiery darts (you remember, with truth thoughts.
It was an effort on my part but by the grace of God, I maintained a controlled calm. My friends were doing the same, but I knew it was a struggle. The reason I knew that was because of all the wise cracks they were making. When you are faced with a dilemma such as ours, sometimes laughter is a beneficial distraction.
And as so often happens, a few minutes after the ‘need to fill the gas tank asap’ light came on (causing the oxygen level to be seriously depleted as we all gasped for air) there appeared the gas pumps (not station, just a couple of dated pumps outside a run down little mom and pop type grocery). And next door to them was the restaurant; still open! We were rescued!
Wow, I came away from that adventure convinced I had the best logistics coordinator in the universe (and of course, I did. We all do, actually). There is one more experience that I want to share with you that will illustrate the benefit of seeing God as our very own and personal Logistics Coordinator! However, this is enough for now, so I will wait till next post and bring all this to a conclusion then.
Fiery Darts: Satan's Weapon of Choice 