Wow, it’s hard to believe that my last blog was posted in October of last year! I couldn’t remember why, at first, but then it hit me. I was riding out a storm. It wasn’t a catastrophe, but rather a self-inflicted storm! Actually, we’ll call it a WalMart storm!
Sometimes we aren’t exactly sure of what actions to take. We search for a spiritual compass that will point us in the right direction, only to find that the compass works about as good as Jack Sparrow’s compass in ‘Pirates of the Carribean’. That was a great part of my year in 2008.
After the motorcycle accident of Christmas 2007, I found myself floundering. My bills had piled up and it seemed no amount of prayer was making a dent. I had finally had enough by September of 2008 and decided to take some sort of action.
I had a new full-time job, but decided that I would look for a second part-time job. I spent my nights looking through on-line ads, and placed many applications. Finally, I received a call-back, but not for a part-time position. WalMart came calling with an over-night full time position. Being the vampire that I am- I took it! After all, who really needs sleep?
I would go in at 9:30 pm and get off work around 7am. Then I would proceed to my day job. Needless to say, I learned the true meaning of the word sacrifice. I find it interesting that I think I know what something means, only to experience it first hand and come to the realization that I didn’t have a clue.
I thought that I knew what sacrifice was, only to find out that I really understood what laziness meant. I met people on the overnight shift who had been working those hours for years while working another part-time job and going to school on top of it all.
The thing that I have come to appreciate most is the pushing of myself to limits unknown. I never knew that I could go 28 to 36 hours with no sleep several days a week and still function as a father, husband and worker. Yet because I had envisioned a goal of getting out of certain debt, I performed beyond what I thought was possible. In essence, I discovered something very meaningful and valuable about myself through sacrifice.
I don’t want to make this long, so let’s fast forward to the point. Sometimes we have to do what we don’t want to do in order to get to the place where we want to be. Let’s face it, everybody wants it easy.
As I stated earlier, I prayed against my mountain of debt, but to no avail. It wasn’t until I put my hand to the plow that anything began to happen. I did, however, see God begin to speed up the process once I took an action.
I worked for 5 months at something that I honestly grew to hate, yet God met me there. I was able to share my faith with many unbelievers, pay down my debt, and even recovered my range of motion that I had lost in the motorcycle accident. And when I was finally able to walk away, it was through new doors of opportunity that the Lord opened to me.
God is faithful, and we know that He is capable of doing anything. Let us not, however, forget that we play a part in all of this. You may feel like you are waiting on God, but do not think it impossible that He might be waiting on you!
Just something to think about.
