Here I sit...my little space heater spewing out hot air about two feet from me as I watch the snow fall outside as it has all day...drinking my Coke with a lime bringing back any number of memories from my beloved Senegal while the scent of the cheesy potato soup I have in the crockpot entices my stomach. Being sick for the weekend has its advantages...such as catching up on a ton of emails that I haven't been able to respond to and listening to a sermon from my church in SC which I dearly miss. I started listening to it yesterday and finished it just a few minutes ago...and it got me thinking...

...don't freak out. That was the title of the message. My pastor there is hilarious, but hits home with just about every sermon - I guess you might say - he makes learning fun! So in his walk through the whole Bible (when I was still there he decided to start in Genesis and "just keep going..." - and he has!) he finally got to Joseph who was a righteous man who was wrongly sold, imprisoned, and basically just had awful things happen to him over and over, but God kept bringing him to places of leadership even within those times. And finally he became second in command over Egypt and ended up saving millions of lives, including those of his family. Pastor Jeff was talking about how when all these things happened to Joseph, he DIDN'T freak out...as we do in the smaller things of life.

The reason he didn't freak out? He had a deep faith in God that allowed him to trust that God was working for His good reasons. Lesson learned? Currently, things in my life are not as I would wish them to be...in a number of areas...but this is not a reason to freak out. God can use these times just as He can any other time to prepare me for what is ahead. He's worthy of my trust...I mean, if you look back since the beginning of time, He's got a good track record.

Oh, and if you want to hear this message for yourself...or any others, feel free. Just click here. :)