Growth Through Hard Times

I'm going to be transparent for everyone.  I threw a big adult temper tantrum the other day. My work day was great. Don't get me wrong. It's fast-paced and high stress, but manageable. My daughter is weaning off her seizure meds, so she is unable to drive for a few months. I became her after work transportation. She also warned me that she needed some help with a college assignment. I knew this would be challenging.  My husband was out of town all week. I had been running the home, taking care of pets, along with stepping in for any needs that might arise for my children. By the time I picked up my daughter from work, I was tired. I told her I was ordering a pizza and taking an evening off of cooking. My paycheck would not clear until the next day, so I was using reward points to pay. Free dinner. No fuss. It was perfect. That is, until we arrived at the store. After having the clerk check tickets several times, I had to resign myself to the fact that pizza was not happening. The order had not come through. By then, the line was too long to order and have dinner any time soon. I told my daughter we were driving to our church to pick up my son's guitar and then I was going to try and figure out what to cook. I grabbed the case and drove away, only for my daughter to mention the guitar was not in the case. I turned around mid-driveway to return for the guitar. At this point, I hit a huge rock sticking up. My alert system that constantly goes off when something is in front of me was suspiciously silent. I was  now seething but still holding it together. I drove home after getting the guitar and scrounged the cabinets for food. I settled on sliders, until I realized all my aluminum foil was gone. That was fine. I would make grill cheese, until I found two empty cans of nonstick spray in the cabinet. I snapped, ranting about replacing things we use. I might have called out to God that I just wanted pizza! Eventually, food was cooked and my husband, instead of returning home with flowers, showed bearing gifts of aluminum foil and nonstick spray. The funny part was that, as I was putting away the spray, I dropped it snapping off the nossle of a new can. I had to throw it away. My point is this. As I looked at my fruit trees on my front lawn, I noticed new growth and flowers beginning to bloom. During winter the lack of leaves and growth may look like the tree is dead. What is not clearly visible is that growth is occurring even when you can't see it. When times are hard, we may feel God has abandoned us. However, God's goal is growth in your life. Maybe you need to cultivate patience, love, self-control, or joy in all circumstances. No matter what is happening in your format stage, God has not left you. He will turn you hardship into beauty in His time. For me, I humbled myself to my children and apologized for my tantrum and enjoyed a hard-faught dinner.

Have a great week high-heeled warriors!