In Bad Times, Praise the Lord

 Happy Sabbath

The wind was knocked a little out of me today. Part of this week.  

I am thankful that God still is able to use people.  I don't understand it all and I'm not going to try.  I'm not supposed to have all the answers right now anyway.  It is raining so I will hurry to get this out.

I made a list of 17 things that I'm concerned about that I need to present to the Lord in prayer.  I just spent time praying about those things.  God had a speaker come to my church today which I always enjoy when he comes. I know that he walks closely with the Lord and sometimes he says things that we don't want to hear but he says them it is what God intended.  There are a few people..prayer warriors that have that connection and I am thankful that this one spoke to me today.  He encouraged me on the piano.  I came in to church sullen and for the first time ever, chose not to play anything until Sabbath school started and they called out the hymnal numbers that were needed. I always come there either first or second from my congregation when the church opens up and am playing but I was down today.  I was down because of the things happening in this order:

My car tire was flat yesterday which means I will have to replace it. My dad showed up without warning to give attention to another car in my driveway and when I saw I had a flat tire, he put air in it. But this is not a permanent fix. I don't have a lot of money to make car repairs right now. I was down because I saw a huge amount of money taken from my account this morning and I do not believe my son is being honest about it. At this point, it is a 1% chance that it was glitch in the system. I believe my son found an away around to fund his card and took funds I never authorized for him. He also lied about doing some tasks that would only pay out $36 in total. Not $233+.  He has been getting extra money for months and I didn't realize it.  He even figured out my password to my laptop which I think perhaps that was the door he used to get into the parent account.  I had to change my passwords this morning to something harder now so I will have more frustration dealing with that.  My wrench light came on as I was in transit to church this morning in the other car that doesn't have a flat tire.  After speaking with the brother, he came over and prayed with me and I told him a little about what was going on.  I got in my car and the engine light went off and I stopped in front of his car and he told me it might be that the transmission fluid is low.  That is something I can handle and I thank the Lord for him taking a moment to pray with me.  He approached because he wanted to encourage me on the piano, to trust myself.  God knows I don't trust myself when I'm up there.  Some days are really good days. When I'm in the presence of greatness, I overthink what I'm doing and lose confidence and start to make errors.  I  have played Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow endless times and I made a slight error on the end.  I made that error because I realized he was there and as I said, when I'm in the presence of other great musicians (particularly pianists), I start messing up.  Prior to me even knowing he was going to be there, I scaled back my playing. I didn't do the embellishments I love to do. I made songs plainer and really detached myself.  I was in my head about what happened with my son. I was in my head with what happened with the cars. With how people interact with me at church. With a host of other things.  

When I got to church I opened up the piano and sat there.  I sat and made my list of 17.  It is pouring down rain right now and two of those problems is on that list.  

I'm getting off now. I hope to give a positive update next week. The wrench light went away when I got in the car to drive back home. That was the item first on my list of 17.  I thank the Lord for easing my anxiety on my way home. I thank Him for this week, the good and the bad.  I tried a VR experience with my son on Sunday and left upset. He was rude, unappreciative and just embarrassed me with his behavior.  Then he went on to do what he did with the card.  In good times praise the Lord.  In bad times, praise the Lord. I'm going to praise the Lord.  Keep me in prayer please.