Frustrated...and Renewed

I need to get a laptop if I'm going to blog. It's much more exciting and romantic to blog in a coffee shop or out on the porch or anywhere else but my room.

I just spent a lovely hour outside at the pool just floating. I wanted to read my Don Miller book, but left it at work. That's right, I never made it back to work after lunch. The carpet repair guy took forever. I was actually really frustrated. I tend to get frustrated when I waste time or when things don't go as planned. But especially when time is wasted. So I just sat on my couch for 3 hours, waiting for him to finish, watching The Office. Now, I love The Office! But TV is no good when your watching alone. Nor is it any good in the middle of the day when the sun is shining, beckoning you to play outside! I kept thinking, OK I bet he's almost done, I'll just stay put and I bet he'll be done soon. I was wrong. It's always awkward to have someone come in your house and service it. I never know what to do. You can't leave, you can't hang out with the person, you can't just go in your room and take a nap; instead you have to stay accessible. Just in case. But anyway, on with the happy pool story...

I wanted to read my Don Miller book but instead ended up reading a bit from "The Ragamuffin Gospel." This was definitely a good choice. I have trouble believing in grace. Some part of me
is just sure God changes His mood about me depending on what I do. And since I had just "wasted" a lot of time, I was sure God was ridiculously upset and didn't want to talk to me. But the message of the Bible, taken as a whole, tells me that's not true.

Brennan Manning put it this way, "If in our hearts we really don't believe that God loves us as we are, if we are still tainted by the lie that we can do something to make God love us more, we are rejecting the message of the cross. I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a teacup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God."

So good, Brennan.

Once I remember hearing something like, "God uses even our frustrated moments for His glory." Wow. I believe it. God isn't limited to only using our "good moments." He works them all together for good (Rom 8:28).

I really need a laptop.

I like writing, obviously. I hope, if you read this far, that you don't mind my ramblings. It's just nice to get things out of my system.