Trials & Triumphs

Last week was quite a week. The tornadoes demolished parts of Oklahoma and thousands of people's lives were turned upside down on Monday.

Tuesday, the storms made their way through East Texas and my Facebook news feed was filled with statuses complaining about having no electricity for a few hours. My thoughts were of the people Braeden spent last summer with who NEVER have electricity or running water. I got the kids together and we prayed for protection and that Chad would make it home safely since he was out working, running tools around for a job. We thanked God that we still had a home to give us shelter from the storm unlike the many people in Oklahoma.

Wednesday came along and while we were at my sister's graduation Chad called to let me know that our AC went out at the house. I was a little discouraged but only because we still had a 3 page list of supplies left to buy for Braeden's mission trip which was going to be pretty expensive. Still we didn't complain, we thanked God again that we live well enough to afford a home that has AC. Believe it or not there are people out there who don't have the slightest clue what air conditioning even is. We lifted the windows when we got home that night and made it a camping adventure...and ended up cold by morning time. :)

Thursday, after a long exhausting elementary school field day, the house was super hot so we played outside until it was dark again. One of our neighbors came over to look at the AC to see if he had any idea what might be wrong. He said our capacitor had gone out and get this...he had a brand new one (the exact model we needed) in his storage building! I was thinking no way, this is too good to be true. Within 5 minutes we had cold air and he didn't charge us a thing, praise God!

Friday I began to get everything rounded up for Braeden's car wash fund raiser. I was talking to him about the car wash and how we both hoped to be able to not only pay for the rest of his trip but also that we would make enough to buy all the supplies he still needed. Then he said "oh that reminds me, here's a check someone gave me today to help me with my trip" I nearly fell over, it was the exact amount we had estimated his supplies to be! Again, God provided....and his suitcase is now packed and ready to go, praise God! Friday night the weather was showing rain all day for Saturday, still we continued to load everything up for the car wash.

Saturday morning proved to be dark and cloudy, we went anyways. Even though it looked like rain the car wash still raised over $600! Once again, God provided. Sunday met us with several more donations to Global Expeditions for Braeden's trip. As of Friday he still needed $2,487 and today he currently needs only $1,349. Within a couple days God provided more than we could have ever expected for B's mission trip!

As I look back I realize throughout my prayers last week I never once asked God for any of the things He had provided. Instead of worrying or complaining I simply kept giving Him heartfelt thanks for everything we already had. You see, God knows what we need before we even do. Sounds so simple doesn't it? I can tell you though, it's a whole other extraordinary thing to be able to experience it the way our family has this past week. Praise God!

Don't worry about what you can't control. What you can control is your attitude, your effort and your focus. -can't remember where I heard this but I loved it and saved it in my notes a while back :)