Have you ever gotten yourself into an extremely embarrassing
predicament and you weren’t quite sure how you were going to get out of
it? For some reason, these sort of silly
but potentially serious situations happen to me quite often. I believe that God must enjoy using me as an
example to others about the reality of human frailty and our need to rely on
HIS power to rescue us. Hopefully I’m
learning all of the lessons God has for me along the way. I pray that I will remain transparent in my
inadequacies so that others may see the awesome power of our God to accomplish
what sometimes seems to be humanly impossible.
One of these interesting situations occurred several months
ago while on our farm. The day started
wonderfully as I looked forward to some special time alone with our youngest
son Joshua. Our three older teens were
all at camp for the week and my husband was gone on a business trip out of
town. Joshua and I had exciting plans
for our day together, but we first needed to take care of our chores around the
farm. We were in charge of feeding all of the animals for the week, which was
usually the responsibility of our older kids.
As we went out of the house and shut the door behind us, suddenly I felt
a large lump in my throat. I definitely knew
something wasn’t quite right. Have you
ever had that nagging feeling where you just knew without a doubt you had
forgotten something but couldn’t recall what it was? Within seconds of closing the door to the
house I realized that the door was indeed locked, and I had NO key!
A wave of panic swept
over me like you wouldn’t believe! Have
I mentioned that besides the fact that I did NOT have a key, I did NOT have a
phone, I did NOT have any money, I did NOT have any food and I did NOT have any
makeup! To give you an even more vivid picture of the situation, I was wearing
my pajamas and I had not yet combed my hair! For those of you who really know me, need I
say more? How much more embarrassing
could it get? I’ve learned not to even
ask such a question anymore. Trust me, things CAN and HAVE gotten EVEN far more
humbling for me at times. This may
explain why my Grandma used to compare some of my nutty escapades with those of
Lucille Ball in the “I Love Lucy” episodes from the 1950’s.
In my depair, I then turned to my 8 year old who possesses
the reasoning skills of a middle aged man and informed him that we were indeed
locked out of the house. Josh, being a
huge fan of the 80’s television show “MacGuyver”, quickly transitioned into
creative idea mode as he reviewed all of the episodes in his mind where
MacGuyver was able to skillfully open locks with some sort of homemade device. One such solution involved the breaking of a
light bulb, but I quickly dismissed that notion due to the fact that it sounded
slightly dangerous. After realizing that
none of the attachments on his pocket utility knife were going to unlock the
door, I said, “Josh, let’s pray right now and ask God to help us because He
promises in His Word that He will always come to our rescue in times of
trouble.” Although we weren’t sure what
God was going to do, after praying we decided to go ahead and proceed in
feeding the animals. As we walked down
the long lane of our farm, Josh kept persistently asking how we were going to
get back into the house. I reassured him
and myself that even though we didn’t have the answer, God always has a
solution and we needed to trust Him and wait for Him to reveal it to us.
Within seconds, God brought to mind what had happened the
previous week when I was washing windows in our great room on the second floor.
We were getting ready to have company
and I had been cleaning the windows at the highest part of our house. In the process, one of those windows got
stuck and no matter how hard I tried it would not completely close after it was
clean. In my forgetfulness I left it
that way and neglected to inform my strong husband that it needed to be fixed. In my mind, it seemed as if the possibility
of being able to climb in the window would be our best solution. To explore this option, Josh and I went
around the house and starred at the window that seemed so far away from the
ground where we were standing. Indeed
there was a very tiny opening at the bottom of the window which was great news,
but how in the world would we be able to reach it without a very tall
ladder? If we did have a ladder to
reach, how would we be able to get up there and get through the small
window? Who would God send to help us
accomplish this seemingly impossible task?
As I’ve learned through all of these crazy situations, God
is faithful and always has perfect timing!
Just then, one of our two neighbors came out to leave to go to work for
the day. For some divine reason, he had
not left as early as usual, and I mustered up enough courage in my embarrassing
state of mind and presence to go over and ask him if he could help us. I explained how we had locked ourselves out,
and that my husband and older kids were gone for the week. I was thankful that he didn’t even seem to bat
an eye at my ridiculous appearance and I believe he was already aware of my
tendency to be absentminded from previous conversations. Our kind neighbor said
he could call a locksmith but that it may take hours for them to arrive and try
to open the door. I then mentioned the
incident where I wasn’t able to shut the living room window from the week
before. He asked if we had a ladder tall
enough to reach the window but I thought it was locked up in an outbuilding so
he drove his truck over to another neighbor to borrow one of their ladders. I
found some hedge cutters and quickly began cutting down shrubs and bushes so
that we could even get near the side of the house where the window was
located. When he returned with the
ladder, we both realized that the only one who could fit up there and crawl
through the window would be Joshua. Josh
was scared to climb that high, and I’m also fearful of heights, so our neighbor
gently guided Josh up to the top of the ladder by holding onto him and
carefully following him. As soon as they
were finally at the top, he helped Josh open the window and slowly crawl inside
the house. Although visibly terrified, Josh was SO very excited that even
though he was a little boy, he was the one person who could get inside to
unlock the door. He said, “Praise the
Lord that I am small enough to fit through the window”. Those were such joyful, beautiful words for
me to hear our young son give God the glory for what He had done. It also showed his sensitive and thankful
heart towards God’s sovereignty and provision in our lives.
Although our uncertain circumstances only lasted less than
two hours, it seemed like an eternity. Praise God that the incident was finally
over! I was really not interested in hanging outside all day in my pajamas, but
if that would’ve been the case, then I believe that God would’ve had a purpose
in allowing it to happen. God
orchestrates and works even the littlest details in our lives together for our
good and for His glory. “And we know
that God causes ALL things to work together for good to those who love God, to
those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) The fact that our neighbor was home to help us
at just the right time and that the window would not shut from the week before
were evidences of God’s hand at work in fulfilling His promises to take care of
us. It was God who reminded me that the
window had not shut completely. It was
God who allowed the whole incident to take place so that we could testify of His
power to do what seemed to be humanly impossible to us that day. Through this situation Joshua was able to see
that God uses little kids to accomplish His purposes, which was a huge faith
builder for him.
This was just another chapter in the book of God’s amazing
teaching moments in my life. My desire
is to give a transparent picture and encourage others in their relationship
with the Lord. He desires for us to call
upon His name in times of trouble and desires for us to trust Him completely. Too often we attempt to solve our problems in
our own strength, and wait for every human resource to be exhausted before even
asking God for help. Our Deliverer wants
us to come to him in our desperation and cry out to Him for help, knowing that
HE is our ONLY solution, we do not need to fear. For this reason, we are reminded in Psalm
46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore, I will NOT fear.” I pray that the next time you are faced with a
situation that seems hopeless or humanly impossible that you will remember this
story of how God rescued me and have the faith that He will also deliver
you.
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