Are pity parties really justified?
First off, we are on the road! Leaving a little later than planned yesterday, the new tires are on and we made it to our first planned stop, just south of St. Louis! Now to the topic of the title of this post. Are pity parties really justified? Okay, so I admit it, last night my mind was wandering, and even though I was trying to keep it under control and telling myself that my thoughts were wrong, a pity party was still going on. It truly was nothing major and I certainly know better! Reading before bed, I was already under conviction and repented! (Told the Lord I was sorry & asked him for forgiveness.)
Early this morning as I was reading through the Bible, I was in Acts 16:23-27 “After they (Paul & Silas) had been severely beaten/flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.”
The words “severely beaten/flogged” hit me right in the middle of my forehead! (Figuratively, not literally!) Here I was last evening allowing my mind to get all messed up over something very minor whereas Paul and Silas were still praising the Lord after being SEVERELY BEATEN! This wasn’t just a slap on the wrist, this was a major beating, their backs would have had deep open wounds and then to add even further discomfort they were stuck in stocks! Not only did they NOT have a pity party, they were praising the Lord loud enough for the other prisoners to hear them! By doing that, FREEDOM came! Now I am not saying that we want to start believing for earthquakes to literally shake the foundations around us but what will our praises do in the spirit world if we praise the Lord loud enough so that folks around us can hear us? We will not only be freed but the lives of others around us will also be changed! So, let me encourage you today, whatever you are going through, sing praises to the Lord and give HIM glory!
P.S. We made it to our first destination last evening. Going up I44, for a few miles through some roadworks it was crazy to see semi-trucks literally littered on the outer banks and in the median! We assume this happened during the ice storm on Monday. They have had a lot of rain up here so some trucks, whilst still the right way up, were well and truly stuck in the mud. One UPS driver was in his truck obviously trying to get out but there was no way! A few minutes later we saw a couple of big “oversize” load trucks coming down the other way. Were they going to pull him out? Not a clue but it was a mess! That has got to be scary, sliding on ice in one of those big rigs, especially the ones that tipped over!
As for us, not sure what time we will get back on the road today, if at all. The truck engine light came on yesterday. Richard went to O’Reilly’s last evening but all they could tell him was it was either the fuel filter or a pressure sensor gone out. He will be calling a Ram dealership this morning (several around here) to see if they can get us in. We are supposed to be heading to Indiana today but this is why I planned our trip to give us a spare day so if we have to stay here another day, we still have time to make it to Cleveland on time!
See you later, Liz
