One Little Mistake

What a week!  Have you ever made one little mistake, but done everything else right?  That’s how the past week went for me. I thought I was going to get away to the Rocky Mountains, and had been facebooking with my cousin Jane about the day of the week and dates.  I thought it was a little odd that we were celebrating her summer birthday in April, and that she was booking a domestic trip on the heels of a European excursion, but I’m a trusting sort.  I didn’t pry or ask questions, because that’s how I roll.  And I rolled right off the tarmac, this time!

You see, Jane was talking about July, and I was thinking April.  The days of the week matched the dates, which coincidently are the same for April and July this year.  Thank goodness we both caught it before I stepped on the flight to Denver!

Obviously, I needed down time after all.  So I stayed home for three days, but plunged myself into the details for this weekend’s Women’s Retreat.  All the schedules, all the gift bags, all the supplies, all the lists…and I waded into the curriculum itself.  I’ve participated in more 50 retreats in my lifetime, but this is the first one for which I have been solely responsible.  I won’t be doing it by myself again.  I’ve learned that lesson the hard way this week.

Oh, I’ve studied, and plotted, and planned.  I love doing that.  And I set about writing what I would say, how I would say it, how to include the participants, but it was turning into quicksand. I was working hard, but not getting anywhere.  Have you ever been stuck like that?  I was doing all the right things, but again I made one little mistake.

It wasn’t until late, late Wednesday night that I finally got down on my knees to pray my most frequent prayer to God.  It goes like this (you may recognize it in your own prayer life), “Help!”  It was hopeless.  I was hopeless.  I think God let me stew on it through the night, and then, with the coming dawn, came that Little Small Voice.  “Julie, why don’t you let me handle this weekend and stop trying to take so much control?”

Well, of course.  I was about as embarrassed as I was with my airplane ticket mistake, although I didn’t know if I could trust my cousin Jane to forgive me at the time, and while I know God will forgive me, I suppose by thinking I needed to control everything, I wasn’t fully trusting God from the beginning.  I had no reason not to trust, as God has been so steadfast to me all my life.  God even is providing me the most fantastic musician for the weekend (Eliza Lynn, guitarist and banjoist, check her out, she’s phenomenal).

Who knows how the weekend will go, now that I’ve placed it all in God’s hands and am letting God guide what happens.  I fully trust it will be far, far better than anything I can imagine.  It’s so cool being enveloped in God’s grace that way.

I’ll update you soon on the gifts God is plotting for this weekend.  What I thought was fear has turned into excitement!

At least that’s the magnificent view from my desk this morning.

Grace and joy,

Julie