Stop, Look and Shift Gears
Sharing with you a day from my world. Actually, this was written awhile ago, and I have improved a lot in this area of my life, but this “parable of the keys” is still relevant!
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Keys and I don’t get along. I am constantly losing them in the most unusual places. Yes, if I had a special place for them, this wouldn’t happen, but then you wouldn’t have this devotional now would you, lol?
So on the eve of a very important ministry event, I meticulously planned my errands, but what I DIDN’T do was put my keys away the night before.
Stay calm! Retrace your steps. That’s what they always say. I checked the obvious, then the not-so-obvious places. No luck there! Who believes in luck anyway–time to pray!
Dear God,
Please help me find my keys. Lord YOU know that this project is something YOU gave me to do so would You PLEASE help me find my keys!
There, that should do it. And of course it did, but not right away.
Time to panic! Look through the trash, under the table, on the counter, inside the sofa. Through the trash, under the table, on the counter, inside the sofa. Dump out the trash, turn over the table, clear out the bathroom, strip the sofa! Nothing. NOTHING!
Lord puh-lease!
Regroup! Take a walk. Breathe! Gently now–trash, table, counter, sofa. Everything! Everywhere! Nothing. God I NEED my keys! Tears forming now.
Rinnnng! Rinnnng! The telephone. My daughter Havyn has been struggling with some challenges this week. Must speak with her. Shift. My perspective changes.
When giving wise motherly counsel, I sometimes pace the floor and talk with my hands. So, I turn slowly and right underneath one lonely sofa pillow are my keys. I KNOW I looked there! Were the keys there all along? Probably. But in my frenzy and distress, I had overlooked them. Either that, or those keys mysteriously manifested right where I had been sitting! Thank you God!
Now, my short-lived desert of distress over lost keys is not as serious as the deserts faced by others. Take Hagar. She was in a desert crying out for her son who had no water. God heard her cries and sent an angel, which surely must have shifted her perspective. When she opened her eyes, a well of water was there just waiting to meet her need.
God wants to meet our needs, but often we can’t be still long enough to see his blessings right there before us. In this case, He sent my angel, Havyn, who unknowingly shifted my perspective long enough so that I could see that God had indeed already answered my prayer! Now, if I could just put those keys away to avoid the next desert!
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P.S. Now it tends to be my glasses that I lose all the time!
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