Lacking No Good Thing

I've really fallen behind on blogging. I have several posts started, but I haven't been able to finish them.  They're pretty time intensive. Also, I've been up to my ears in a near hopeless effort at finding employment.

I know, I know. Me and everyone else in America.

Actually, yesterday I reached my tipping point.

Some of you know that I sometimes have a strange sensation that some small, many-legged creature is meandering up my arm---shout out to last summer's guitar class where I embarrassed my self with poor playing and spastic reactions to imaginary bugs.  Well, I've got to say that probably 97% of the time, it's all in my head. But the 3% just makes me feel validated for having that creepy feeling.

Case in point--- I was sitting on my bed, tip-typing away at what you will read in the rest of this blog when a dark menacing shadow clouded a tiny portion of my screen...

It was a bug. A small, apple-seed shaped bug. It vaguely resembled one of these little guys:

Bed Bugs. Picture courtesy of this nation's heroes, exterminators. 

Wuh-oh.

Like the calm and rational individual I am, I put the bug in a plastic bag to show the Orkin man and promptly fled the premises. I also called my mother and moved in with the Gladies.

Honestly, I'm not that afraid of insects. In fact, I've been told I would make a remarkably good Buddhist because I avoid killing bugs whenever possible (cockroaches being the exception). But yesterday, they just got to me.

I already felt like I had too many things to do this week--- spend time with Pioneers kids and their families, apply for a dozen jobs, write letters of introduction for my unsolicited resumes, determine where I am living for the next few weeks, and pack up my belongings since I have to be out of the house in a few days. I had no time for bed bugs.

For whatever reason, I really didn't expect finding a job to be as difficult as it has been. I've been genuinely surprised that not a single one of my applications has led to an interview. Not one.  I maintained pretty good spirits until a week or two ago, and yesterday was definitely a low point.

My mother is remarkably less impressed with my economic plight. "I've been praying about it, Lauren. You have been serving the Lord faithfully, and He has not dropped one of His children yet. I know He'll provide for you."

Of course. My mother chooses to take Jesus at His word when He says crazy things like---

So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. ---- see the full story in Matthew 6:25-34

and

You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.--- Matthew 7:9-11 

And what of the bedbugs? Surely they cannot be a blessing from God. That's what Corrie Ten Boom thought too in her lice and flea infested barrack in the concentration camps. It ended up that the presence of those bugs kept the guards out of the barrack and allowed them to have uninterrupted bible study.

I'm not saying that the bedbug incident is protecting me from Nazis. But I am encouraged by Paul's reminder:

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. ---Philippians 4:19

He'll even take care of the bedbugs--- they're no surprise to Him and are a tiny part of His plan and purpose---even if I have no idea what it might be.

  I will praise the Lord at all times.

      I will constantly speak his praises.

  I will boast only in the Lord;

      let all who are helpless take heart.

  Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;

      let us exalt his name together.

  I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.

      He freed me from all my fears.

  Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;

      no shadow of shame will darken their faces.

  In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;

      he saved me from all my troubles.

  For the angel of the Lord is a guard;

      he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

  Taste and see that the Lord is good.

      Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

  Fear the Lord, you his godly people,

      for those who fear him will have all they need.

  Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,

      but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing. ---Psalm 34:1-10 

Adventures in Dreaming: Jessica had a dream about my little bedbug friend, but instead it was a Fatal Attacking Bug! One bite and you're dead... scary.


Fun Fact of the Day: Did you know that the Galatians were Celtic? It says so on Wikipedia (so it must be true).