Well....it wasn't as bad as 2010, at least. That year, for April Spring Break (I had a week off from teaching and the girls were 16 and 11and also had the week off from school) we were headed to Paris. We would fly from Boston on Saturday evening to Munich, then down to Paris landing on Easter Sunday morning. Spring break was the first week of April that year.
In the middle of March, the entire basement flooded due to a sump pump failure. We had no sump pump coverage on our homeowners insurance policy so we took a loss of the entire carpeting (3/4 of the basement was re-done and carpeted), along with losing our futon, my stationary bike, some other odds and ends like books and games/puzzles and a cabinet. Back to a cement floor with area rugs. During that same week that we hired Courtney's then boyfriend to help us rip up the old carpeting and mop, mop, mop and clean clean clean, our stove died! It was an Amana....I loved my gas range. But it wasn't a high end one. It was just average. So.....
First, the oven croaked...and then the burners. Talk about inconvenience. But....the guy who hauled it away said we got good use of it. He told us then in 2010 that it must have been a good gas range as we bought it brand new in 1994 when we built this house and they don't last long. So it lasted the average time that he said most appliances last (6-9 years).
We upgraded to a nice GE and......
.....it lasted until yesterday. The oven finally died. We had had it repaired once about 4 years ago and the repair guy was surprised it just needed a small little part. So we've had 16 years of use. But it's so inconvenient to have it die now! Right when I had dinner all planned and brownies to bake (so the uncooked dough is now in my fridge......).
Why am I sharing all of this?
Because I get "appliance anxiety". I despise shopping for new appliances, especially stoves. It's weird here in NYS because any new buildings going up ( apartments and homes) must have electric appliances only. I don't agree with this but......hey...I also didn't vote for her so.......(yes, our governor passed this law). So I was very nervous going into this store, thinking they may no longer have good gas ranges. (our kitchen isn't set up for an electric stove...we'd have to run a whole new line and hire an electrician to get the switch). I had narrowed it down to 3 models. A Samsung, A GE S1 and an LG. The GE S1 had the best price for what we wanted. I like that it comes with a crisp mode which is comparable to an air fryer. I love that there's a 5th burner (a griddle) and that one of the burners is a simmer burner. We currently have that feature on the one that just died and it's nice. Now of course I'm anxious that it's going to take weeks to get it. We had to pay extra for the installation as well as a fee to have the installers cart away the old one. The anxiety about all of this is at an all time high. I even reached out to my friend from this blog to ask her to pray. I know she did.
These modern day, first world problems are so very inconvenient aren't they?
But.
Then I read my morning Scriptures. I'm currently in the middle of doing a devotional study titled A Lifestyle of Prayer and what that looks like.
And God convicted me this morning. It started with the Scripture in John 16:33
And then it reminded me of this Scripture:
And I realized....Joy...and Peace...are in the list of the fruit of the Spirit.
I don't need to be anxious about anything because God sees it all.
He wants me to come to him in prayer and place my anxiety at the foot of the Cross so He can bear it for me.
Jesus is the one who brings the Peace during any of our struggles.
Joy is the weapon!
Our Joy in the Lord gives us strength to combat those anxious thoughts which was negative and are from Satan.
We can learn to steward our joy and base it on God.
We do this by focusing on God's character and goodness.
We can remember the things He has already done.
We can be thankful. Even for small things like "at least my burners are still working and at least I have a grill....it's summer...and I have a microwave."
I can chew on God's Word daily for my daily bread. I can turn to a Psalm to calm my anxious thoughts.......I can read about a miracle Jesus did......there's so much comfort, wisdom and encouragement in Scripture.
And I can pray. We can talk to God directly like Adam and Eve did in the Garden. We have direct access to God through Jesus!
As I focused on these and other Scriptures, my anxious thoughts went away for the day and I could do other things knowing God's got this.
I kept reminding myself that there are people with far worse trials...this is just a blip. Yes, I had plans to go on a day trip this week as I had no hikes to lead and no appointments of any kind. But that trip can wait......
and I can wait for the stove to be delivered, all the while knowing that even though it is an inconvenience, I always have something to be thankful for and God is there even in the little things.....like a new stove......that still needs to be delivered and installed........
(and yes, now my friend Jill is praying for the delivery to be soon before our vacation begins!!)
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