Looking back....

-
One of the things I learned about the same time I learned how God speaks to His children these days is that sometimes it pleases God to take us back in our past a little bit, when it serves His purpose.  Today was such a day.

Many of my Guard friends will remember back to when I almost bought a mansion.  At the last minute, the deal fell apart.  Over the next year, we'd have a couple of more bites at that apple, but the thing always seemed just out of reach.

Today I had an opportunity to return to the mansion under some different circumstances.  The folks who would eventually buy said property kindly donated some things to our church and I had the opportunity to help pick them up.

I have a great deal of empathy for people these days and today I'm also cognizant of the meaning, "there but for the Grace of God go I."  Sometimes no can be a big blessing.  At the time, I sure didn't think so, but with an opportunity to look back on the whole thing, maybe it worked out for us for the best.

Last week's lesson was all about giving.  This week's was about having my eyes opened.  Some things I can see clearly, and others, well, sometimes I feel like I can see the men but they look like trees moving around.  Yesterday was a day like that.  I saw some things and took a step, only to get smacked back down.  But as a little facebook meme I saw the other day reminded me:  "It's awfully hard to save someone who's drowning when they keep going back into the ocean."

Sometimes it pleases God to hide things from us.  I think about the two who were walking down the road with Jesus but were prevented from recognizing Him.  Sometimes we can't see clearly at the time but later on we get a chance to look back and see that God was busy in our lives even when we were far from Him.  I thought that lesson was going to take another form, but maybe today's experience was what He meant.

Again, I don't know.  I just know today I'm thankful for His divine intervention.  Sometimes failure turns into blessings, and today I count myself blessed.  I'm happy for me, sad for others, and grateful that God loved me enough to say "no".


Comments

  1. Dale CooperMarch 17, 2013 at 1:40 PM

    Some people never learn, the deleted comment started out with. My reply: "yup".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dale CooperMarch 19, 2013 at 8:00 PM

    Oh, yeah, and something else just came to me while I was sitting here watching basketball... to whoever posted the comment and to those that saw it before it was deleted. I talked about the flood in the basement, but never told why I asked God for the wrong thing in the first place.

    Now you know!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And part two....

-
What I've learned lately, I'm trying to apply to the oddest thing I've ever faced.  I mean that.  Over the years I've learned that when you lose, it's best to lose and walk away.  But this time, walking away seems to be not part of the plan.  It's like being forced to watch as the decision you made has consequences you could never imagine, and having to watch them as they play out. Running away isn't in the cards. I deserve that.  I mean that.  It's a blessing because it will keep me from being stupid tonight. And tomorrow.  It kept me from being stupid yesterday, etc... You get the idea. Whatever your opinion about where I'm at, where I'm at is where I am.  And this is what the Bible has to say:  Psalm 127 v1:  Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. From Jeremiah 10:23...Lord I know that peoples' lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps. From Proverbs  16:1  To huma...
Read more

At least I can laugh about it!

-
The papers say: DALE L COOPER IS NOT THE..... I had to laugh because it was my Maury moment.  I'm not making this up; they say it just like that in bold type and all capital letters, like they're shouting it from the rooftops! I wonder if all caps and bold type in legal documents have the same significance as capitalizing things in an e-mail. There's a story here about why God is always good and His timing is impeccable. I mentioned earlier I had to get a copy of my divorce decree for my employer so they can verify some information I provided to them.  That is gonna have to wait because I got some papers in the mail from the State of Utah who is stepping in to set aside a portion of my divorce decree so that it meets their needs.  They need to undo something that got done through no fault of my own. When I quit fighting the former(?) Mrs., it was this issue that I gave in on. So today, I get to send my employer the information I got in the mail and hopefully...
Read more

not that guy today!

-
As I drove up the circle the other day, I took a good look at my house and I decided I needed to change a few things. For far too long, I've been doing just what I needed to, to get by with keeping the lawn mowed and the garbage picked up, for the most part (except the mess in the back yard), but I saw some things I didn't like. For instance, one of my window screens fell out of the window.  Another was coming out of the frame.  I had a ladder out back I used to pick apricots.  That was in July.  My boat had a flat tire and was kind of starting to be a catch-all for this or that thing. No longer. The ladder is put away for the evening.  Tomorrow I have to get out the 20 footer to fix the other screen.  All of the junk is gone.  ALL of it.  I still have a couple of shelves to clean out and some cupboards to clean out and can do that this weekend.  But the non-working appliances, broken and disgusting furniture, and garbage is removed f...
Read more