Asking for Help

It was uncharacteristically cold again this week with lows in the single digits or teens.  Thankfully my water didn't freeze, but my office at work was very cold.  I have a small space heater that I use, but I noticed more and more people commenting on how much colder it was in my office than in the hallway.  I figured it was because there are two windows in my office and with the frigid temps the heat unit just couldn't handle it.  My solution?  Lots and lots of clothing layers.

By Thursday the thermometer on my desk was reporting 59 degrees.  I decided to seek professional help and put in a work order to get more heat in the room.  On Friday morning, our maintenance guys came in and started investigating.  Turns out that although the heating system was showing all was well on the computer monitors, the fan was not working.  So, no heat was being pushed into my office. No wonder it was cold!

I notice that sometimes I wait until things are close to unbearable before I seek help.  Life would be a bit easier if I could better gauge the time to wait versus the time to ask.

James 5:13a Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.  

Matthew 7:8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Asking for help is not always easy, but that is exactly what God wants us to ask of Him.  I am glad I asked for help from the cold and I'm looking forward to more comfortable surroundings this week.

A Himalayan Week

Have you ever ridden the Himalaya at an amusement park?  It has a bunch of cars connected in a circle with up and down slopes.  It can travel forward or backward and go really fast.  That's a good description of this past week.

Monday -  rushing through at breakneck speed for a noon deadline at work
Tuesday - a friend from the past suddenly died at age 55
Wednesday - a bank robbery across the street from work put us on lockdown
Thursday - my son's best friend lost his home in a fire
Friday - too many meetings, call to the Red Cross, visit to the funeral home, call to the family who lost the house
Saturday - my baby's birthday, a family reunion, a painting birthday party with 8 little girls

I feel like my mind and emotions have been riding the Himalaya and I'm wondering when it will stop.    The only thing that gets me through these kinds of weeks is knowing that I have an anchor that can calm the chaos.

Hebrews 6:19-20  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

C-C-Cold!

This week we hesitantly welcomed a Polar Vortex - polar air streaming into the Deep South.  I thought I was prepared.  I had my warmest clothes ready, my youngest sleeping at my parents' house and my car was tucked safely in the garage.  But on Tuesday morning I awoke to a temperature of 4.8 degrees and no water.  Yikes!  My memories of camping flooded back as I got ready for work, using the water I had stored under the sink.  I assumed that the water was frozen somewhere in the pipes.  I had no clue if there would be damage but knew the temperature would stay below freezing all day, so I headed off to work.

That evening I still had no water.  After a brief trip to my parents' house, we settled in for the night.  I knew the temperatures would begin to thaw the water the next day and I'd need to watch for breaks.  In my prayers I asked God to restore my water and keep the pipes intact.  In less than thirty minutes I was drifting off to sleep, then I heard the sound of water running.  It was the tank in my bathroom refilling.  I smiled as I realized the water was flowing and it was in the teens (not warm enough to thaw).  I heard the water stop and considered getting up to check for leaks but decided if God could thaw the water below freezing, He could make sure my pipes were ok too.  I went to sleep.

Luke 8:25  But He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  And they were afraid and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be?  For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him."

The next day we had water and no leaks.  He answered my prayer and the water obeyed Him.

Agitation

It's been a strange week.  My sleep got messed up with an out of town trip and then New Year's Eve.  I was completely exhausted after working only two days, having been off for a week and a half. I had some allergic reactions to food on Friday that left me feeling odd.  By Saturday I was completely agitated and antsy.

I don't like feeling that way and it takes a lot to get myself back into a somewhat relaxed state.  It seemed that nothing I did or avoided doing gave me any relief.  Late in the day, I looked at my wall calendar and noticed the verse for January:

Psalm 116:7 Let my SOUL be at rest again, for The Lord has been good to me. (NLT)

Hmmm.  I contemplated that for a few minutes.  I guess it was my soul that was agitated and not just my body.  I felt myself begin to relax.  I sat down with a cross stitch project and stopped thinking about not feeling right.  By the end of the day, my agitation was gone.  Sometimes a simple verse is all you need.