turning up the heat

Well its H-O-T here today in Dallas, Texas... and we are without AC!  We noticed on Friday evening that our house was feeling a bit warmer than usual, then we started to sweat... then we realized no AC.  After notifying the after hours maintenance here on campus, we were informed that there is no one on call this weekend to fix the AC... they will be back on Tuesday.  Tuesday?!?!  That is almost 5 days of, what we feel, is excruciating heat.  We were able to sleep in another empty apartment last night... which felt AMAZING!  But sadly, we have pretty much been complaining on and off for the past 3 days... "its too hot! 5 days?!? this is just not right!  we have a toddler!  we have to keep walking back and forth to get our stuff from one apartment to the next!!"  Oh, just typing all this complaining makes my heart sad.  But God is always faithful to direct His children back to His Word...

As I was doing dishes in our burning hot house, sweat dripping off of me, I heard the Lord's kind, gentle voice say (not audibly, but in my heart), "Are you content in all circumstances?  Have you learned to love me, to love your family, to love others, even when you feel uncomfortable?"  I shared this with Ray... we both felt conviction in our hearts.  We refocused our eyes and saw that this trial, and yes this is a trial in our lives, is testing our faith in our Father.  We know that these things that we are going through right now are only working in out lives to prepare us for whatever the Lord calls us to in the future.

We are now feeling nice and cool, sitting in our friends apartment.  We are learning what it means to be content in ALL circumstances... Our faithful Father is turning up the HEAT just a little to remind us where our hope and trust lie.

this is not todays actual weather, but it is what we have been seeing the past few days... whew!