When Its Been One of Those Days

     There are times when things just don't seem to turn out the way we had expected, and it seems that whatever can go wrong does.  This is the way my Monday began.  Actually, I should back up and explain that on Saturday, I opened the freezer door and a pound of frozen bacon came flying off the shelf and hit my big toe.  To say this hurt is putting it very mildly.  All night long the toe throbbed and so I got very little sleep. The same was true for the next evening.  This is probably what led to my not so happy Monday.
     Having a doctor's appointment in another town, I left early enough so I arrived on time.  There were no other patients in the office, and in fact, the doctor came out and chatted with his receptionist for a while and returned to his office.  I waited fifteen more minutes before I had the chance to see him.  This was to be the first of many irritations.
     In addition, our internet had been down since the past week meaning no communication or T.V.  We had a tech scheduled to come but not until Tuesday.  This was irritating but then my cell phone email quit responding as well.  I did not know how to remedy the problem so I went to the providers office in the same town where my appointment was only to find there was a line out the door.  I waited in line, and when I finally got to a customer service agent, she told me I had to call the technical line because they could not help me at all.  Unfortunately, my luck with agents on the technical line was often dismal, but I had no other possibility.
     By the time I reached home, I was in quite a stew about life in general.  Lack of sleep, and the frustrations of life can make problems seem much larger than they really are.  With this in mind, I decided to just sit quietly and do some embroidery, read my Bible passages and allow myself to unwind.  It is far better to be silent than to speak up and say something unkind.  My mother impressed that upon my heart long ago.
     Reading the Word of God brought the most comfort to my heart...it always does.  Why do we not reach for it more often?  One of my favorite verses is found in Psalm 30:5:  "For His anger is but for a moment,  His favor is for life;  Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."  Then, I turned to another favorite verse sound in Psalm 147:3:  "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."  What a God of mercy and grace who cares about us and even the little things that cause us frustration.  However, my favorite verse comes from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."  These beautiful words really do soothe the soul like no other Scripture.  To think, we are loved by the God of all comfort.  He personally comforts us like a mother comforts a child who has been injured or is afraid.
     In those moments as I read this, I could feel the loving arms of the Lord around me.  Then, the hymn that was one my father loved to hear came to mind, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".  Verse 1 goes:  "What a friend we have in Jesus,
               All our sins and griefs to bear!
              What a privilege to carry
               Everything to God in prayer!
              Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
              Oh, what needless pain we bear,
              All because we do not carry
              Everything to God in prayer!"
We do often forfeit our peace when we allow the circumstances of life to dictate our happiness.  Our first thoughts should be to take the everyday situations before the Lord who cares for us.
     Not only did the Scripture bring me comfort, but it also brought me conviction.  I had allowed my
frustration to win the day.  In those moments of silent reflection, I found repentance, peace and the joy of the Lord again.  How sweet to end my day this way.
     Have you had those days too?  Our comfort is never far away or unable to lift us above our circumstances.  All we need to do is call upon the Lord, meditate on His Word and trust in Him.  He is the God of all comfort.  As He has comforted me, I have shared this with you to pass along His comfort as the Word tells us to do.  Be encouraged today and know that when frustration arises, God is only a whispered prayer away.  Selah!