Is this Alaska?????

I live in the south, the northern edge, I'll grant you, so we do get cold and snow, but we are having sub-zero temperatures and wind chill, not normal for our area! The water in my kitchen, laundry room, guest bathroom, and the shower in my bathroom has been frozen since yesterday morning. I have no hot water in my tub. I last showered day before yesterday. Please don't come see me right now, it's not pretty!!!

But it got me to thinking. Every morning, I wake up, turn on the faucet and trust that water will come out. And it does. Until yesterday morning. I was shocked! Where was my water??? It's always there!!! Every morning, I wake up, pick up my devotional book and Bible, read, and spend time in communication with God. But do I trust that He is always there? Do I trust that He, as His Word says, is sovereign, in absolute control of everything that comes through my life? Do I wake up and turn on the faucet of God and expect Him to quench me?

Sometimes. When everything is going well. When my water isn't frozen. When my plans are going as I intend. But sometimes, like this morning, I turn on the faucet and when God comes out, it wasn't what I expected. And I am shocked! Where are my plans? I laid them out so carefully!

Trust is hard for me. I think it is hard for most people. We have all been betrayed, learned the hard way not to trust completely, hold a little back. And God, whom we cannot physically see, whom we say we believe has absolute control, knows the end of the story, allows all things that come into our lives, that same God doesn't always give us our way. And so we mistakenly think He is not to be trusted either. So we close off a bit of our heart, our vulnerability, say, "I can handle this myself" and deviate from the amazing lessons God has for us through adversity. How foolish we are!

As I look out at the beauty that surrounds my home, the gully, the hills, the sky that goes on forever, the blanket of new snow, I am reminded that the God who controls my circumstances - if I let Him - created all this! He makes it work! Part of the beauty is the extreme cold - and the frozen water lines. Without the cold, there is no sparkling, pure white snow. There are lessons in adversity! I pray that as they come, I will pay attention, learn them well the first time! Praise Him that He loves me enough to want to improve me, draw me closer to Him, through whatever method it takes!