One Day At A Time

Here is the current projected path for Ike.

Just when I thought it was safe to turn off the weather channel...here comes another one! Ike is already tracking at a Catagory 4. Please keep all those in the path of this storm (as well as those in the path of Hannah) in your prayers.

I was just looking over my blog, and on one of the posts I said that I was going to share more about these four words: Lord, is, my, and shepherd. I didn't stay on track. Like the above hurricane, I'm a little "wobbly" and "unpredictable"! But for just a little bit, I want to share what I learned about the word "is" as it relates to going through the storms of life.

It really helped me to learn and experience the truth that the Lord IS my shepherd. Not that He WAS my shepherd, or that He WILL BE my shepherd...I learned that He IS my shepherd. To me, that means that right here, right now, God is with me and will meet the needs that I have today. Someone once said, "God has just enough grace for TODAY." I'm still pondering that statement, but I think that person means that God doesn't want us to worry about our yesterdays or our tomorrows. Like a magnet on my sister's refrigerator door says,"Yesterday is past, tomorrow is not promised to us, but we have the gift of today...and that's why it is called "the present".

As I dealt with all the overwhelming details of losing everything, of dealing with insurance companies, mortgage officers, FEMA and SBA representatives, I found myself often looking at it all and thinking, "There is no way I can handle all of this stuff!" I can't adequately put into words the hopelessness and despair I felt. A big reason for that is the fact that I was looking at the whole entire mess. What I should have been doing was looking at little pieces. I forgot the saying that I learned as a child,"Yard by yard, life is hard! Inch by inch, life's a cinch!"

As I look back, I can see how God led me through every step. He was always there. I'm learning more about God's sense of time and how he transcends the confines of time. He lives in an eternal present. He is a "Right Now" kind of shepherd. He shepherds me one day at a time.

I'm learning slowly (and learning the hard way!) that God promises to shepherd me TODAY. He says to me, "Quit your worrying about tomorrow!!! When you get to tomorrow, I'll be there!"

Just like the Israelites were only given a daily dose of manna, so God sends me exactly what I need to meet the demands of each new day. Oh man, I shudder to think of what I would have been like in the wilderness! I probably would have been out there trying to gather up enough to last the whole forty years! And just like what happened to the Israelites, all my hard work would have spoiled, because I wasn't doing it God's way. Nope, not this naughty little sheep. I was trying to trust in my own plan, my "new and improved" way of meeting my needs.
I'm far from perfect...I have six kids that can vouch for that!...but I am learning (slowly!).

And what I'm learning is that my life and all of it's circumstances rest in the Hands of a loving God...a God Who is patiently teaching this willful, head-strong little sheep a thing or two about living ONE DAY AT A TIME!