Saturday, August 10, 2013

His Grace in Expanding Time

Several years ago during a gathering of my small group, my friend Melissa prayed that God would expand the time of one particular member, who had a lot going on, in order to enable her to get everything done that she needed to get done.  That prayer has always stuck with me, and I've often prayed it for others.  And a couple of weekends ago, I saw how the Lord answered that unspoken prayer in my own life.

That particular weekend, I had big plans to start in on my to-do list on Friday as soon as I got off work.  But after I put in a load of laundry and ate dinner, my stomach didn't feel well.  I ended up in bed before 7 p.m.  Not the start that I was planning on.

But Saturday morning, I woke up feeling great.  I did a load of laundry and watered plants before I met a friend to go for a walk.  After our walk, we went to two farmers' markets, dropped off some books for a friend, and drove the car through a car wash.  When I got home, I vacuumed the car and the house, drafted a budget, paid bills, cleaned out some files in the file cabinet, cleaned the bathroom, hand-washed the pile of "hand wash only" clothing items, mopped the floors, did all the ironing, put away dishes from the dishwasher, took a load of donations to Goodwill, completed some computer work, wrote some cards, and started on my Bible study homework.

Maybe all of the above is a normal day's work for you; if so, my hat is off to you.  I'm seldom that productive in one day.  I decided to nickname this my "Responsible Saturday."  It was one of those rare days when time seemed to stand still; at different points during the day, I couldn't believe how much was already done and that there was still lots of time left in the day. 

It was obvious to me that God's fingerprints were all over this particular day--from giving me the health and energy to complete tasks (some of which had been on my list for quite a while) to orchestrating events to fit together in a timely manner to expanding the time to not make the day feel rushed or hurried.  Responsible Saturday was truly a gift.

Have you experienced God's grace in His expanding your time?

1 comment:

Momma Bean said...

I love days like that! On the days when time doesn't seem to expand to match the long list I've made, I have begun to pray that God would grant me enough time to do the important things for that day and the wisdom to realize what those things are.