Trust and thankfulness

This morning when I woke up, I started praying. I don't even think I was fully awake. It had been a long night. Chloe has a yucky cold and was waking up stuffy or snotty on a fairly regular basis throughout the night. Ugh. I knew I was going to need some extra strength, energy, patience, coffee, etc this morning. I was reminded in those brief quiet moments of something I read a while back about trust and thankfulness. So I tried to focus on those two things.

As I became more conscious, I noticed it was kind of cold. Then I heard Chad clunking around going up and down the stairs between our thermostat and furnace. Uh-oh. Our furnace is original to the house .... so that makes it about 26 years old. It could bite the dust any day, but so far it just keeps ticking away. I got up and looked at the thermostat. It said 58 degrees, although it was set to 67. Hmm. I immediately started feeling a bit panicky. How would we pay for a new furnace? What was I going to do with the kids to stay warm? If we need a new furnace, when would they be able to install it? Why do these things always happen at the most inconvenient times, ie right before Christmas?? Then those two words came back to my mind: trust and thankfulness.

I wish I could say differently, but it was very hard to focus on those things. As I made coffee, I said "God, I'm trying here. I want to trust and be thankful, but it is hard. Please take care of us."

Within an hour, a technician showed up. The problem ended up being very simple. It was fixed, we had our furnace cleaned while the technician was here, and I became quite thankful for the whooshing sound of heat coming through the ductwork of our home. I was extremely thankful that we did NOT need to scrape together the money to buy a new furnace.

I write this to give God the glory here. I am so weak many days and easily give into fear, worry, etc. when I really just need to trust God. Easy to say, but not so easy to do when you are faced with a difficult situation. This really was not even what I would term "difficult" but still, not what I wanted to wake up to this morning. But the reality is - even if the furnace was kaput, He would take care of us. Even if our house burned down, He would still provide. I have so much to be thankful for, and here I was focusing on the one thing going wrong, and feeling sorry for myself. I am thankful that when we know God, He speaks to our hearts and reminds us of truth. And the truth is - God promises to walk with us through every circumstance, and I need to continue to trust and be thankful.

As I went to write this, I decided to look up what I had read about trust and thankfulness. It was in a book called Jesus Calling - it's kind of unique in that it has daily readings that are written as if God was talking to you Himself. Here it is (partially):

"Trust and thankfulness will get you safely through the day. Trust protects you from worrying and obsessing. Thankfulness keeps you from criticizing and complaining, those sister sins that so easily entangle you. Keeping your eyes on Me is the same thing as trusting Me. It is a free choice that you must make thousands of times daily. The more you choose to trust Me, the easier it becomes ..."

I like the part that reminds us that we make a choice. We cannot control our circumstances, but we can CHOOSE how we react to them. We can choose to trust, and as we do, trusting becomes easier. Wow.

Hope those words encourage you as they do me.

All this from a non-busted furnace. :)