Surrendering each day

As a mom, of course I have plans for each day. Vacuuming, a trip to the store, or what-have-you. But as they often do... plans get delayed or cancelled altogether. Children misbehave, traffic is horrible, or well, the day is just B-A-D.

Last night I was doing my personal devotions before bed, when God struck me with something in Job chapter one.

(I'm paraphrasing this in my own words...) In this chapter, Satan appears before God, and like a proud papa, God says, "Hey, have you noticed my Job?" It's like He takes out the pictures in His wallet. (Oh, to have God brag on me! I've seen this over and over in my devotions where God says that so-and-so is obeying and has a good testimony. I so VERY much want God to be pleased with me!) Anyway, He brags about Job to Satan, but Satan just sneers and says, "Well sure. You've got this hedge of protection around him. Anyone would be able to be faithful then. But make life hard to handle... heh, then we'll see." So in verse 12, God says,

"And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord."

God gave Satan permission; everything that happened to Job, God allowed. The same is true for ME and MY life. It's easy for me to see the big trials and such are allowed by God. (And those are truly hard to be faithful in, like Satan insinuated.) But I forget that even the little things in my life are allowed by Him. What about a bad day? I should not be angry at my horrible day. This, too, passed God's fingers. Okay, so the day didn't go as *I* planned. Will I allow it to go as *He* planned? He allowed this trial, this annoyance, this day. In those times I should humble myself and ask God what He has for me today. Surrender my plans, take a deep breath, and follow. No, even more than that. I should praise Him for intervening to show me He had something more than my own plans included. I look at Job as a great example. When he heard how all his children were dead and all his livestock were dead (his wealth in those times), he bowed down on the ground (verse 20) "and worshipped." Wow. Complete surrender.

I can view each bad day or upset plans as either a time to strengthen my dependence on Him (what joy! an opportunity to be closer to Him!) or as an opportunity to be a light for Him. Are my children being horrible today? Great! It accomplishes both of those things - I need Him for patience and kindness when they're being horrible, and they need me to show Him to them and to lovingly bring them to Him so they may see their sin.

I recently saw this little blurb I'm about to share on a board I frequent, so I cannot take credit for it. In fact the gal said she got it out of a book, but she couldn't remember which book, so sadly, I cannot give credit. But here it is:

"I am here:
~by God's appointment
~in His keeping
~under His training
~for His time
First He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place, in that I will rest."

*If anyone knows which book that came out of, please tell me so I can give proper credit.