This morning the family woke up to rain with a promise of high winds and power outages by 10am.  Interesting how the weather man could instill such dread in one’s heart.  Knowing that I had better get moving and get the electricity-dependant chores done early, I set off right to work.  I drove the kids down our moderately long drive so that they could wait in a dry place for the school bus.  As soon as they were off I dashed back into the house (still in my candy cane striped pjs & flip flops) and headed right to the laundry room.

Yep, this is where Lazarus, the washing machine, still lives.  For those of you following his debacle… he’s still alive.  Since his resurrection, he had a bad spell with lots of moaning and squeaking a few weeks back, but by the grace of God he has hung in there.  I really wanted to get my two load of laundry through their cycles before the ‘promised’ power outages hit.  Unfortunately, I had not finished up my laundry completely from yesterday and there was a load to be folded in the dryer.  I had turned it on to fluff before I drove the kids to the bus.  It was now done.  So there I am – minding my own business – folding boxer’s and towels and thinking aloud ‘when am I going to kick this nasty cold’ … and I heard a thump.  In fact, I heard a couple of thumps and started to think… ‘well we did have opossums in our attic when we lived in Pleasant Hill, CA… perhaps a rodent has moved into my comfy little home in CT.’  I stopped folding  as my apprehension grew… I decided to thump hard on the dryer and Lazarus (the washer) to see what would happen.  I did so… and out of the corner of my eye I saw a black fuzzy body scamper quicker than lightning from behind the machines and out of the laundry room.  As my mind caught up with what I had just seen – fully realizing that this was no rodent and meant no harm to anyone – I pulled off my flip flop and threw it at Blackie, our 8-year-old cat.

He ran faster as I mumbled ‘how dare you scare me so early in the morning – especially when I’ve had no caffiene’ and ‘what in the world were you doing behind the dryer… how did you fit?’  Blackie is no small animal.  My husband says that he has an eating disorder, and I would have to agree.  He’s fat.  He has never in our 5+ years of living in CT been behind the dryer.  To say that his appearance was unexpected would be an understatement.

Do you know how it is when something scares you – throws you off balance – and you walk on in fear of the next ‘surprise’.  That’s sorta how I wandered around for the next hour.  Blackies appearance put me on guard and rather than being about tasks at hand, Iwas leery and skeptical and waiting for the ‘next thing’.  The silliness of it all would be highly hysterical if my actions weren’t so absurd.

Isn’t that how we sometimes live out our days?  Something bad happens (something much worse than a cat leaping out from behind a dryer) and we find ourselves in a funk and have the attitude and mind set that ‘more is on the way’.  We live with a defeatist attitude and succumb to the lie of the enemy that promises trouble around every corner.  We forget that we belong to the Creator of the Universe and that we are His children & He has made amazing promises to us about how to live in victory.  We need to let go of fear and anxiety and cling tight to Jesus… we do not walk this earth alone!  

If you are in ‘one of those moods’ today.  Take heart.  Claim His promises!  Here are a few to get you started….

The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid?  The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?  Psalm 27:1

The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.  What can mere people do to me?  Psalm 118:6

I praise God for what he has promised.  I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?  What can mere mortals do to me?  Psalm 56:4

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.  2 Timothy 1:7

For I hold you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God.  And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.’  Isaiah 41:13

Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.  Luke 10:19

For God has said, “I will never fail you.  I will never abandon you.”  So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear.  What can mere people do to me?”  Hebrews 13:5-6