Amanda at Mandi Girl Muses recently lamented an incident where their dog ate her husband's Blackberry. Chewed it all up, and right before a business trip! The post reminded me of the time something somewhat similar happened to me...
Still a nanny up to a week before we got married, I helped my host family move from North Carolina to Kansas while finishing up planning for our wedding. I took the family's 1.5-year-old on lots of afternoon walks around the neighborhood, always drawn to the lake around the corner (being the MN girl I am!).
On one such outing we parked ourselves on the dock and I placed my cell on top of the stroller (stupid, stupid me!!) while I went to sit down. Not 5 seconds later I heard a "plop" and it took a moment to register that something fell into the lake. Immediately I was like, "What was that?!" and I looked to see my poor cell phone sink to the muddy bottom of the lake.
My only connection to my directory, quick access to my groom-to-be and everyone involved in the wedding planning -- in just two weeks! Though I was no bridezilla, a girl has only one wedding and she relies on being able to coordinate at a moment's notice.
Lets just say the next few minutes (or maybe hours) were not my most shining moments. Yeah, major freak-out.
Turns out the neighbor across the street (an engineer - glad I married one myself!) attached a magnet to a long stick, retrieved my phone (I have no idea how he found it!), then took it apart and air pressured it so that I could use the first two columns of numbers and access my directory. When does that happen to a drenched cell phone?!
I could have hugged him!
The whole thing was innocent enough. Samantha was simply wiggling in the stroller because she, the little fish, would have dived into the water head first if she could. With her shaking in the seat, my phone must have fallen into her lap. And since she couldn't go for a swim, I'm certain she thought it would be fun to at least throw something into the lake, and so she did. All in a matter of seconds. Poor girl didn't know any better and I was unwise for taking along my phone in the first place!
Since the incident I've been trying to take things in better stride and act instead of react to my circumstances. As much as I would like to control every detail of my (and, what the hay, everybody else's) life, I can't. And what's more, God won't let me. (Well, and how else would I have anything to blog about??) These frustrating little happenings prove that over and over.
So I'm screaming like banshee (figuratively speaking!) and He's like, "Woa, it's really ok! Breathe! See? You're not dying. The sky is blue. And you'll get through this just like every other time."
Thank His goodness God didn't matter-of-factly state, "It is still very possible to plan a wedding 1000 miles away without a cell phone." Although, He very well could have! I'd have burst into tears!
I had this little saying I would often whisper in my head while stressing over some or other college deadline:"If I can get through this, I can get through anything."
For some reason that little phrase seemed to help carry me through the task (possibly all-nighter). And then with a sigh of relief I would look back over the difficulty and thank God for His help and pat myself on the back for my sticktoitiveness (as my dad would say).
Sometimes I still motivate myself with those same words; for instance, when I'm on the treadmill and feel like quitting. Although, more often I tell myself, "Just two more minutes." And when the two minutes are up I say it again. "Two more minutes." Sounds better than reality, which is usually 46 more minutes!
I think, in circumstances where I feel most helpless and desperate I need to remember the verse in Lamentations 3 where it says that God's "compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness". Just wait for it. There's always something around the bend to lift us up, whether after the slightest drizzle or a swirling hurricane. It won't always mean complete restoration of what we've lost or broken, but God will find a way to somehow encourage our heart.
Even be it a mere reminder of how fortunate we are in this country to own a cell phone. Or to wear a beautiful white dress on a wedding day we for so long planned. Or how much more meaningful it is to dwell on what really matters in life rather than the "stuff" that often clogs our lives. Getting to be someone's bride, someone's nanny, and perhaps someone's good example of what calm, sustaining trust in a faithful God looks like.
