It's been a rough week friend. I don't feel like sugarcoating it nor am I here for sympathy or a pity party. I'm just being honest. Between a frustrating, out-of-our-hands/control problem at work with bad parts and a wasp issue in our apartment. It's been a rough week.
As I was sanding a part at work and thinking about all the troubles we were facing, the Holy Spirit reminded me of this verse. John 16:33, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." The Holy Spirit reminded me and comforted me that not every day is sunshine and rainbows, and that's okay. Some days or even weeks suck. The week still sucked and left me drained in every way possible, but, I needed the reminder that Jesus has overcome the suck.
At work, we received a shipment of parts from a customer that are no good, and thus, we cannot paint them. At first, it was frustrating, and of course, every department thought it was someone else's fault. Once we realized it was the customers' fault, we all "calmed down" and continued with our work. At the end of the week, and after feeling all the feelings, upper management tells us that we need more of these parts and that they may move people around to accommodate the demand. I nearly burst out laughing at our morning meeting. Because I know that a) it's not doable and b) they are just panicking.
Meanwhile, at home, we discovered a hornet's nest outside our balcony door, and somehow, they were getting into our home. At first, we thought they were coming through the windows. We figured maybe the sealing around the windows had some holes. So, hubby kept putting duct tape around the windows, trying to figure out where they were coming from. With no real success. We called our superintendent and told them about the problem. Turns out they already knew about it from our neighbour upstairs and were on it. They offered us a can of raid and said to spray the entrance to the nest. So we did. Oh, FYI, the nest is not visible. It's in the wall of the building. A few days go by with still no progress. A wasp was walking down our hallway one night (they hadn't gotten past the living room/dining room area yet). I had turned out the lights to head to bed and stepped on it, and it stung me. Oh my goodness, I have never experienced so much pain for so long. I had a tattoo apt the next afternoon, and all I thought about that night as I was trying to relieve the pain was, "My apt would be over by now." and "It better not hurt this much." (it didn't) I couldn't walk flat-footed until the next afternoon. Needless to say, we were getting even more upset with our suppers, who weren't doing a very good job of getting rid of them. Hubby finally figured out that they were coming in from the fan above our stove. The nest is in the walls and our fan isn't set up properly, lacking a filter of some sort, and thus hornets are entering our home. Oh, and the more time went on, the bigger they got. Up until we figured out where they were coming from, we were very angry tenants and ready to give our suppers a piece of our mind. We felt like we were prisoners in our own homes. Since hubby tapped a plastic bag over the fan we haven't had any wasps, of which we are thrilled. So between stupid parts at work and a wasp invasion, it has been a trying week friend.
But I digress. The Holy Spirit has also reminded me over the last year or so that even on our bad days, we are still called to worship God and glorify His name. There was a time when I would pray for something, not get it and get upset with God. Mainly because I thought He was going to do something through the item I prayed for. Plus worshipping God and praising His name is not for His sake. He doesn't need an ego boost. We are called to worship and to remind ourselves that even in the hard times when things such it remind us that God is still good and worthy of our praise. I find this principle helpful at church as well. Sometimes, we sing songs that I'm not really into, then I remind myself that it's not about me, but about God instead. And yes, there are days when this principle doesn't work, and I'm just not in the mood to raise my hands. Which is also fine. I'm not going to hell for not raising my hands.
Our church is doing a series on Jesus's messages to the seven churches in Revelation ch 2. Today we were talking about the church in Pergamum. Ch 2:12-17. The verse that stuck out to me the most was vs. 13. "I know where you live..." Our pastor parked on this verse for a minute and restated that a) God knows where we live. Which is an odd thing to say in a letter. Back when we regularly wrote letters and mailed them to our friends and family, we never said, "I know where you live." Obviously, you know where I live if you mailed me a letter. The next thing our pastor said was that not only does God know where we live, but He knows what we are going through. He knows about the challenges we are currently facing and wants to hear all about them. This friend was my takeaway from this morning's message. God sees my struggles and is here for me as I walk through them. A truth that I already knew, but needed a reminder for.
So, friend, I hope your week was better than mine. But if it wasn't, that's okay too. Just remember that God is with you. He knows all about your struggles and wants to hear from you. James 1:2-4. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."
I pray this post blesses and encourages you in whatever way you need today.
God Bless
~Hannah
Thank goodness for photo editing, because like this week, my fall photos from Friday night did not turn out very nicely.
No comments:
Post a Comment