This Is the Stuff

I listen primarily to Christian music.  

Not because I don't like other types of music like rock or country, I enjoy them both.  And not because I think other types of music are evil, you can find almost all types of music in my iTunes library, including rock, country, hip hop, old heavy metal, and honestly probably even a couple songs with a few questionable lyrics (they don't get played very often and I blame my husband on their existence, but they're there) . I certainly don't judge you if you choose to listen to these forms of music.   Honestly, I just  happen to enjoy Christian music. 

I am a firm believer in the "garbage in, garbage out" philosophy.  And no I did not just call your musical preference garbage!  I like that "garbage" myself.  But I like Christian music more, so I listen to it more!  I like the way Christian music makes me feel, I like the thoughts it puts in my head, and the words that come out of my mouth (and my kids mouth) when we sing along.  Christian music has come along way in the last couple decades (or I have, not sure which).   And I find myself choosing to listen to it.

There is a song by Jamie Grace called "This is the Stuff" that I absolutely LOVE!

I lost my keys

In the great unknown

and call me please 

'cause I can't find my phone

This is the stuff

that drives me crazy

this is the stuff

that's getting to me lately

in the middle of my little mess

I forget how big I'm blessed.

This describes my weekend to a tee!

My whole family was in town this weekend.  It was a celebration of my dad being healthy after a triple bypass surgery a few years ago and a heart attack last year.  Eight out of the 12 of us were going to do a 5k together.  We woke up Saturday morning to a toilet leaking in the kids bathroom, an hour later the toilet in the office bedroom started leaking.  An hour after that damage started to show up on the first floor ceiling and I noticed one of the handles on a kitchen drawer had somehow broke.  The kids couldn't access the internet, our wi-fi was somehow down (with 6 kids ranging in age from 6-14 this was a HUGE DEAL!)  After watching a basketball game in the afternoon, the kids couldn't get the X-box to work, and when it was time to watch our FAVORITE basketball team that evening the cable box wouldn't work!!!!  

Frustration is too light of a word to describe what my husband and I were feeling at this point!  

And then…and then… this morning… my phone wouldn't work!!!!  You can mess with a girl's wi-fi, I can survive without cable or an X-box.  I still had 3 working toilets.  But DON'T mess with my phone!!!!

I had reached my limit!  I forgot about every single blessing I had been given not only this past weekend but in my life in general and I was ticked!  This tends to happen to me.  REAL tragedy, true trouble, the kind that is way past a mere inconvenience and stops your world in your tracks.  That I can handle.  That stuff, though horrible, inevitably draws me closer to God, forces me to count my blessings, shows me what is TRULY important in this world.  But all this little stuff.  This is my undoing.  

It is the little stuff that too often makes me rant and rave, not at God, but at life.  At how "I" have been inconvenienced, how "I" deserve better than this, and how hard "my" life is. 

Really?  REALLY?

Give me a break!  I am BLESSED!!! So BLESSED!  And I know this!  So why do I let this stuff get to me?????

So this morning I prayed.  I prayed for peace, I prayed for clarity, I prayed for perspective, and yes I prayed for my phone!!!

Guess what?

My phone is working perfectly!  Yes I still have 2 broken toilets, a stained ceiling, and a broken drawer handle.  But I am smiling.  I have peace and I have joy.  NOT because my phone is working but because my God is good, and I am blessed!