Computer issues again this week.
With my laptop out of commission,
I took up another project which I’d been preparing to do for some time—sorting through
photographs. In order to do this, I had to sit on the floor and dig through a
very deep cabinet for those overflowing boxes that’d been stashed away for
years. I felt a few twinges in my back, but by
Thursday, I had to get out the heating pad.
I was determined to complete the first leg of
the project, though, so, I went back to the job yesterday.
One minute, I was visiting with a
friend in my den, and a few hours later, I was in such pain, I had to crawl to
the bathroom.
Today, I’m wearing one of those
heat patches, and using a cane to get around. It’s a lot better than crawling.
I keep thinking about what I read
in Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for his Highest a few days ago.
He begins with saying, “Clouds
are always associated with God.”
“It is not true to say that God
wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our
way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to
simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a
child— a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other
people are but shadows.”
I’m not a fan of pain, but there’s
nothing like it to make you run straight to Jesus.
Chambers references a verse in
Nahum 1:3 which reads, "...clouds are the dust of his feet."
Pain, disappointment, grief, or
any number of other experiences can make the clouds feel so thick, we can hardly
put two feet in front of each other. (Or two knees as the case may be.) But
when we can’t see anyone else, He is there.
Last night, I remembered the
verse, “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8). “Come near,”
I kept sensing the Lord saying. “Come near.”
God and I in the clouds.
And if you’re in pain today, it’s
God and you in the cloud, as well, in whatever circumstance you may find
yourself in.
Just come near to Him.
It’s going to be awhile before I sit
on the floor to sort pictures again, but that’s okay, right now I’m sitting at
the feet of Jesus.
I have a friend who’s very crafty
and puts herself in check by saying, “People are more important than projects.”
So true. And more important than all is the time we
spend with Jesus. Just wish I didn’t have
to go into back spasms to remember that truth.