Life on the Edge: HIS Grace: And Don't You Forget It!

So yesterday, with the storm we've been having, my driveway drifted shut again. Great, big, tall drifts that went up and down like the waves of the sea. The truck I'm driving was parked safely out of the yard and down the driveway, but I still had to hoof it out there in order to go to town.

Now, two winters ago when my driveway last drifted shut, I didn't even have a sled. So I was feeling quite peppy that I had everything I needed to handle things if my driveway stayed closed. When it was time to go, I bundled up (boy, did I bundle!) and loaded my sled with 1 propane tank, 2 water bottles, and 2 bags. It looked like this....

The water bottle handles were threaded through the tow rope and the whole thing slid marvelously over the drifts.

Alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the way to the car.

This drift was a solid wall of snow rising chest high. And the truck is that little spot up in the left corner.

But still I was cheery, even laughing on my way out to the car at how fun it was. And then I got to thinking about how most people would find this situation intolerable, but that I didn't mind all the inconveniences. And how God measures out the circumstances of each life, never giving a person more than they could handle. Sure, I had to hike over chest-high drifts to get to my car, but I had my health and the legs to do it with. God hadn't stuck me out here with a child in a wheel chair, or having bad legs, or MS as some of my friends do.

I was really feeling quite thankful that God manages everything so well.

And then this morning happened.

It snowed all night last night, but the drifts weren't as big. The snow plow had come through and made a quick pass through my yard so I was able to make it all the way up to the house again after taking Caleb to meet the bus. I worked for a few hours around the house and then got ready to make a run into town. Let me interject here that I am driving my brother-in-law's truck right now, since my own van is in the shop. (I love you Van-essa! Get well soon!) The result is that I am driving a vehicle I'm unfamiliar with and one that is much too big for me. I need a booster seat to see over the steering wheel.

So as I stepped on the gas to get enough momentum to clear the drifts, I confidently drove right off the road and into the ditch. Stupid truck. Stuck in the same spot for the second time in two days, only this time worse, and with no one here to help me. I tried digging myself out, but to no avail. I had to call for help and wait for the cavalry to arrive.

While I waited, I busied myself with clearing around the tires, growing hotter and more irritable by the minute. "Stupid truck......mutter, mutter......can't see over the steering wheel.......mutter, mutter.....I want my own van back......mutter, mutter."

It was on my gazillioneth mutter that I got a little nudge from the Holy Spirit. Something along the lines of, "Remember yesterday? All that stuff about how God never gives you more than you can handle and how good He is?"

Sigh. Yes, I remember.

Because, if God was good yesterday and doing a rocking, awesome job of ordering the universe, then He's still good today. And there's something to be grateful about getting stuck and having to wait to be rescued while everyone in the county drives by and sees me sitting in the ditch like a loon. At the very least, it's a potent reminder that I exist and succeed only by God's grace. My good humor---on its own---changes as fast as my circumstances do. But with God helping, I'm able to have peace and equilibrium even when things go haywire.