Thursday, September 30, 2010

God Goes Ahead

I sit here writing on my daughter's Christmas present.  Her Christmas present for this year.

Yes, I know it's September 30th.  Don't be cheeky.

I have a laptop - one that I don't particularly like the kids using for it has all of my saved sites, files, financial, and personal information saved on it.  It's not that I wanted to hide anything from them, but rather, knowing that laptops can be temperamental, I wanted to protect the "brain". Our dino desktop is useless, and we needed something on which the kids could play games, and Harper could send emails.  Thus, we decided months ago that we would look for a netbook.

When we learned that a friend of a friend was selling her used one ("used" meaning a whopping 6 times) we labored over whether to purchase it.  Through discussions with the seller I learned that the model was practically new and not used often mainly because the woman really had her heart set on Apple coming out with a netbook - and soon after purchasing what you see pictured, Apple did.  She closed up the Samsung, put it up for sale, and bought an iPad. 
 
So, why have I already busted it out of its packaging?

Because God in His infinite wisdom knew that the hard drive on my laptop would suddenly crash on Tuesday.  Having learned from past mistakes, I had recently done a backup on my external drive, and purchased and online backup program. So while the brain is inoperable, the data is safe and sound.

However, here i was, with a Pittsburgh Mom post to write, Mary Kay inventory to purchase, and Beachbody clients to check in on - all via the internet.

After dealing with Acer - who is sending me a new hard drive, and MGSoft-net, my favorite local computer place who will be installing the drive, I went to my closet, unpacked Harper's Christmas gift, set it up, and went on with my day.

Had I not purchased it last week I'd currently be without a computer.

Ah, perhaps there are some of you saying, "Maybe God wanted you to take a Sabbath from all things electronic."  I beg to differ.

On Tuesday, the day of the crash, I was reminded of Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner turned missionary to China, who when confronted about not going out to the mission field sooner responded with, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."

When I write I feel God's pleasure.

I'll go as far as to state with confidence that I am sure God went before me, insuring that I would have a new computer in this house a week before mine would fall apart. He knew what I didn't. He always does.

I'm not grabbing for straws here. He's done it for me before.

I've always kept a planner.  God has designed me to be pretty well organized.  For as far back as I can remember, I've used a written calendar/planner of some form - before the days of the internet/laptops/google calender. Planners were my sole "brain" - quite like my laptop is now.  I'll never forget a particular day my senior year in college when I received a call from someone on the other side of campus sharing that they had my planner. What?

"No.  You must be mistaken.  It's right here in my . . ."

No, it wasn't.

God had found my planner and returned it to me before I even knew it was missing.  By going before me, He had lovingly spared me from panic, worry, frustration, and anger.

So today, as I type away on my daughter's Christmas present, I am reminded, yet again, that
  • God walks behind me, beside me, and, thankfully, ahead of me
  • He has taught me and used me through writing
  • I feel His pleasure as I type away 
Oh yeah, and let's not forget, He loves me terribly.

When do you feel God's pleasure?  While running?  Writing?  Folding laundry?  Cooking a meal for your family? 

I find God's pleasure . . . here.

1 comment:

Daisy said...

LOVE it! God is just so.... God! So glad that he took care of your needs before you knew you even HAD a need! I don't know how people do it without Him!