Open Arms. Empty Hands.

Y’all...do I have a STORY for you!

So, I have an executive position in my sorority and part of my job is organizing, ordering, and taking care of our composite (the massive yearbook-esque collection of photos of every girl in our sorority). The bulk of my composite responsibility had taken place last semester when all of the photos were taken and the composites were ordered. All that was left now was for the company to ship me the pictures, or so I thought.

Apparently, there had been a mix up in communication somewhere along the line and our massive composite (the 50 pound picture and frame that hangs on the wall of our suite) had been sitting in a warehouse in Kentucky (about an hour from my university) for almost a week AND NO ONE TOLD ME! The warehouse company called me, telling me that it was there and that I needed to come get it, but the amount that I’d paid to the composite company covered all shipping up to when it was dropped off on campus.

By the time I had received this message it was beyond the hours of the composite company so I could no longer call and talk to my representative. I went to sleep stressed out and anxious and I woke up feeling exactly the same way. 

Today I did my normal morning routine, drank some coffee, read the Word, prayed, and then logged onto my computer to organize my day and figure out what all I had to get done. As I was getting everything together my to-do list just kept getting longer and longer, until it filled almost the entire column of my planner. I was completely and totally overwhelmed. Not only was my day filled to the brim with tasks and responsibilities, but half of them were related to an issue that I had absolutely no control over.

I realized that I had a choice. I could either stress about this until I reached my breaking point or I could trust that God has a plan, that He will provide a solution and that He has a distinct purpose for this entire situation. For the last few weeks, I have been praying for opportunities to grow in my trust in the Lord. Here I was, staring at exactly the opportunity I had prayed for. I chose to give the day to the Lord, texted three of my close friends who I send all my prayer requests to, and carried on with my day filled with a new sense of peace. 

Everything regarding the composite miscommunication was completely figured out and taken care of before I got home from campus today. And that’s not even the best part of my day.

God gave me a message today. 

I don’t know about you, but whenever something goes wrong, especially if it’s something I have no control over, the first person I call is my dad. Flat tire? Call dad. Washing machine making a weird noise? Call dad. Can’t figure out why all of the lights in my apartment just went out? Call dad. If my first response whenever anything goes wrong is to call my earthly father, why don’t I do the same thing with my heavenly Father? 

...whew. Heart. Check. Moment.

Beyond that, today also showed me how much God has been working in my heart and the ways that I’ve grown as I’ve walked with Him. I never asked God “why” today. The questions, why are you letting this happen? or what did I do to deserve this? never crossed my mind. Instead, I told Satan (out loud, because I’m a little crazy) that he should just put his bag of tricks away because nothing that he could throw at me was going to convince me to turn away from my Father.