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God – Our Logistics Coordinator! or How to Fight Worry! Part One

May27

 

This is me; not trusting!

This is me; in worry mode!

 

     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.

https://fierydarts.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/the-3-rs-of-fighting-fiery-darts-revised-plan

     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.  

All things Work Together for Good!

Aug2

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. – Rom. 8:28

There they go!

There they go!

A Present Background!

My daughter and her husband are on a cruise celebrating their 10th year anniversary and my husband and I have the privilege to travel to their home so that we could take care of their 3 children, (8 yr. old girl, 7 yr old boy, 3 year old girl).  I use the word privilege deliberately because to my husband and I anytime God makes it possible for us to spend time with our grandchildren we consider that a profound privilege.  

A Little Past Background!

Years ago, when I struggled with God in releasing my children to Him, my mind was bombarded with a fearsome fiery dart.  “If you release your children to God, He might call them to live far, far away from you!”  At the time I couldn’t bear that thought.  Yet, deep within my soul, I knew it was something I had to do.  I couldn’t run from it and I couldn’t hide from it.  I couldn’t live in denial and ignoring this calling from God, would in no way dismiss my obligation to obey God. 

So, by the grace of God, (and I mean ONLY by the grace of God) I lifted my children up to Him with a trembling heart and promised that I would teach my children to obey and serve God–being comforted by the thought that:

The safest place on earth, is in the center of God’s will.

I did ask God for a favor, however.  I asked Him that if His plans for any of my children involved planting their lives in a place far away from me, that God would make it possible for me to travel to where ever they were to spend time with them.   I didn’t demand this or make this conditional.  For I confessed to God that I would do this hard thing, no matter what!  But I would be more than grateful if I could live in the hope that He would make this possible.  And as you might expect, that is exactly what God has done.

My daughter lives  in Florida, so the fact that God provided us the means to purchase airline tickets to go and be with them is just proof positive that He continues to be tender to my request of all those years ago.  God is indeed faithful.

Now, back to the present!

My husband drove our daughter & son-in-law to the port about an hour’s drive from their house to board their cruise ship and in getting there, our daughter discovered she did not have her driver’s license.  (Panic time!)  Which obviously meant that with no picture id she would not be allowed to board the ship!

I got a phone call from them asking me to check the printer to see if her license was still there.  Sure enough, there it was, along with two insurance cards.  There was nothing to do but to contact my husband and tell him he would have to turn right around and go back to where he had been.  Ugh!  (Problem was, he wasn’t answering his phone so the temptation to freak out was intensifying.)  But everyone held on to their trust that God would work this out and resisted the fiery darts that were attempting to undermine our trust.

Finally, my husband answered his phone and it was decided that when he got back to the house, the kids and I  (along with the 3 important cards) would jump in the car with him and we would all return to the port-of-call so we could hand over the forgotten cards.

So how did this all work out for the good?

We had talked about the children being able to see their parents off at the ship, but decided that wasn’t practical. (Not enough room in the car)  Yet, because of the present dilemma, the kids were able to see the cruise ship their parents would be on (note the picture above).  

Another tidbit of interest is that had not my daughter and son-in-law left as early as they did, we wouldn’t have been able to get the driver’s license to them in time and the trip would have been spoiled.

As I prayed with my grandchildren that night, I thanked God for the opportunity we all had to witness how God took something that was not so good and turn it into good for all.  (Just like He said in Romans 8:28)

Isn’t it awesome to be a Christian!