I am so incredibly thankful for this time off. I have pretty much been going nonstop since Thanksgiving, and then things got crazy with our engagement, and I worked 60+ hours each week for the last couple of weeks. So I guess you could say I was tired. I had literally just asked my sweet Bible study girls and leaders to pray for rest and then the big freeze of 2011 hit. Our office closes only if Dallas Independent School District closes- and they are notorious for never closing. So the fact that they (and we) have closed 3 days in a row is crazy and unheard of. And I couldn't be happier! I have literally been forced to stop and it has been such a blessing. It's cool how God takes care of us even in simple things like this :)
Yesterday I ventured out into the icy abyss because I had some reports that needed to get out for a client and I left my jury duty information at the office (yep, I was summoned for jury duty for today, but that got waived because of the weather! Of course, I didn't know that when I ventured out, so I was still trying to be a good citizen and fulfill my civic duty...plus, I didn't want to get arrested for skipping out haha) I woke up early and decided to head out before others started venturing out on the roads. I don't mind driving on the ice so much because I know I can go slow and be careful. I mind other people. Because Texans get stupid in weather like this. We don't know how to handle it and somehow turn into worse drivers than usual.
Anyway, the roads were bad- I probably shouldn't have been out haha- but I made it safely there and back home without too much sliding on the road. Unfortunately, I came home to no electricity. Thankfully it wasn't an outage problem, they just performed rolling outages all day across Texas to conserve energy. So I had power on and off throughout the day. While it was frustrating at first, the Lord gently reminded me of how incredibly blessed I was to even have electricity in a warm and safe place to stay. While I did have to work on those reports, I was able to do that curled up on the couch under a blanket and with a hot cup of coffee.
I'm not used to slowing down or having nothing to do. Sure, I have things to do, but I am limited in my little apartment with intermittent electricity. So what have I done? I have done some sleeping, some reading, some wedding planning, some blog-reading, some blog-posting, some cleaning, some laundry, some move watching, some online browsing...so while these are all wonderful, and even restful, things, I am still doing something haha. See- I can't stop myself! But now with 3 forced days of nothingness, my brain is finally starting to relax and rest. So I am also enjoying some time to drink tea, pet my puppy, read the Word, sit annd watch the snow, and just be still.
Be still. That's a hard one for me. I think it's a hard one for a lot of us. In our fast-paced, instant gratification, ADD culture, the words "be still" probably strike terror in a lot of us. As a Type-A, over-achieving, responsible person, I struggle with it from the standpoint of being unproductive or lazy, wasting valuable time. Those who know me know that I need time to myself to recharge. And I am able to recoginze my limits and when I need that to steal away for some alone time. But lately, when I steal away by myself, I am still doing things. I have forgotten to take that time alone to just be still. To pray, to wait, to listen. To know that He is God...
So again, I thank the Lord for His incredible provision of some true rest. I thank Him for His provision of warmth and food and shelter. And I thank Him for the opportunity to sit and be still and know that He is God..
So if you need me, I'll be here- being still :)
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