It's true.  And I'm guessing it's the same for you.

Put a pack of cigarettes on the table in front of me and I will be able to let them sit there for days... nay weeks, before I finally toss them in the trash.  They hold no form of temptation for me whatsoever. 
Place a Lindt truffle in place of the cigarettes and... hey, what's that over there???  And somehow it has disappeared. 

I can resist everything but temptation. 

It sounds so silly, but the truth is we all have trouble when it comes to something with which we are really tempted.   Maybe that thing on the computer screen, or the reading material, saying the things you know you should hold back,  or the habit... you name it.  Some things are just tough to avoid.

Unless...

You have a little help.  Ok.  A lot of help. 

Here's the wonderful news I have to share with you today.  No matter what the temptation, God is more than willing to help you out.  The Bible says God doesn't actually tempt us with anything, but he certainly provides a way out of everything with which we are tempted.  He gives an escape route.  A way out.  We can bypass the thing that tempts us and by doing so, gain a victory.

"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And  God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.  When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure".  I Corinthians 10:13. 

No matter what the temptation.  No matter what the lure.  God provides a way out of what is going on in your life.  He sees what's happening.  He knows what's going on.  It hasn't caught Him by surprise.  And He knows how to get you through.

So you can win.  Every time.

There's more to this verse, but I will save that for another day.

The past few days had been so stressful and busy that last night I went to bed at 7:15.  Yep, an hour after dinner was over.  I took my laptop with me thinking I would find an online movie to fall asleep to and... it took less than ten minutes for me to do so.  I continued to sleep for the next 13 hours. 

Today I'm feeling great!  Well rested.

But it meant I didn't post anything here.  For that I'm sorry.  It's not only something I enjoy doing, but based on the 1600+ hits on this page in the last three days, I know it's something people are reading. 

So, let's get on with it.

If you read my Monday post you know that there was something extremely stressful in my life.  It was causing me a lot of tears, etc.  But it's over.  Not only over, but healed. 

I had written on Monday that God always brings joy in the morning.  Well, this time it was joy about 11:00 p.m., but it was joy nonetheless.   God dealt with the issues at hand and everything was restored and made right. 

Here's where I stand with this today.

There was an issue.  I wanted to deal with the issue.  I didn't.  Instead I spent some time (ok, a lot of time) seeking God's wisdom in this.  He said to not do much of anything.  So I didn't.  He took care of it.

Pretty simple, huh?

Not for a Type-A personality like me.  I wanted to jump in.  Fix it.  Do what I thought to be right.  Can I just interject here that what I would have thought to be right and what actually happened weren't quite the same thing?   It's not easy for someone like me to just sit there and wait for God to move.

But God worked it out.  Perfectly.  As if there was any other way God would handle it.

Turns out the Bible is right again. 

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all
  without finding fault, and it will be given to him.   James 1:5

God's way of handling everything is the best.  Always.   But sometimes it's really not easily figured out.  So we have to ask.  He is faithful.  He will always answer.

And His answers always work out so well.

Well, I have lots of energy today so I need to move on.   My desk is piled high.  What should I do first?  Hmmmm.... maybe I need to ask for some more wisdom.

Last night I was working in the Children's Ministry room while an adult Bible study was going on in the fellowship hall.  I had the television on to watch old Veggie Tales videos as the kids were tired of playing and just wanted to rest a bit.  It was late.  They were tired.

One of the children wanted to watch "Larry Boy" so I found the video tape, that's right, I said tape, as in VHS.  I popped it into the video player, but alas, the tape had not be rewound by the last viewer.  Probably in 1999. 

One of the little boys became quite impatient waiting for the video tape to rewind.  He wanted to watch.  He wanted to watch now.  DVDs have taught our kids we just push a button and the magic of television comes to life.  Videos make us wait. 

The four-year old boy doesn't understand videos.  I don't know if he thought I didn't know what I was doing.... what on earth was taking so long?  He wanted to watch and he let me know as only a young child can (by saying it over and over and over) that he didn't want to wait.  Watch Larry Boy, watch Larry Boy....

I get it.  You want to watch Larry Boy.  

Finally, after what seemed to be a good twenty minutes, the video had rewound and we were able to push the play button.  The television screen was fuzzy for a moment, but finally the Veggie Tales theme song came to life.  The boys danced and sang along.  All was well with the world.  The boys and I were all thankful the tape was ready to play.

Change.  The world of videos has long gone except for the few homes which still have a video player.  In our home we have videos which tout the advent of movies coming in the summer of 1995.  Movies I have long forgotten are still in promo trailers on these relics.  I also have a DVD player and two blue-rays at home.... because they're just better than a VHS player.  And VHS tapes are a little hard to come by lately.

Time marches on.  Things change.   

But not everything changes.   God is the same today as He was thousands of years ago.  His faithfulness, His caring, His love and protection... all exactly the same as they were at the time of Moses.  Abraham.   Adam and Eve. 

His rules haven't changed much either.  Love God the most and love everyone else the way you love yourself.   Loosely paraphrased. 

Although I appreciate change with the advancement of things like Blue-Ray over VHS, I also love the fact that God's love for me never changes.  I cannot do anything that would keep Him from loving me.  It's impossible.  No matter how impatient I become, or how I might tend to ignore Him because I'm swamped at home.... He remains the same. 

I can do absolutely nothing that will put me outside of His ability to love, care and guide me. 

There's a lot of comfort found in that.  He is unchangeable.  And not only that, God is unable to change.  His love never ceases.  His mercy endures from generaton to generation.  His faithfulness... the same yesterday, today and always. 

And for that I am very thankful. 

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the
  heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17. 

Today is Valentine's Day.  Because of this, (and because it is Tuesday) we wanted to treat the grandkids to lunch; however, Ben isn't really feeling well, so Rachel and I decided to run and errand and then bring lunch home.

All was well and uneventful until we arrived home.  I unbuckled Rachel from her car seat and handed her a bag from Wendy's to carry into the house.  I unlocked the garage door so we could go into the basement.

This is where God's faithfulness enters in.

A sound that can only be compared to iron hitting iron and the "swishing" sound of a whip made me turn my head.  As I did so, I saw the pulley that holds the garage door fling into the window of my car, right where Rachel had been standing not five seconds earlier.  This pulley is about five inches in diameter.  It probably weighs at least a pound, but Ray thinks it may be heavier than that.  The cable that held the pulley to the garage door opener was the "swish."  This metal cable, approximately 15 feet long had snapped across the garage and hit the car, scraping alongside the car door which had just closed .... where Rachel had been standing moments earlier.

The 18 inch heavy metal spring flew into the garage door and put a nice scratch in it and then flew back into the garage.  It landed right where I had been standing when I was unbuckling Rachel's car seat.

Upon inspection we determined the hook at the end of the spring broke and caused a chain reaction of flying metal and cable.

God is faithful.  We were in the single-car garage, but we weren't harmed.   I checked the car for scratches and although I heard the "clunk" and saw the pulley hit the car, there was no damage.  No scratches where the cable hit the car, either.

I don't believe in coincidences.  I believe God knew we would be coming in the garage at that exact moment.  Even though my granddaughter is one of the three most precious things in life to me, she is even more precious to Him.  And He kept her safe.   He timed the snap of the cable perfectly.  And He knew how far the cable would reach, so it had to break in a specific spot so it couldn't reach us.

We are fine.  Rachel only knows there was a noise and has no idea how close we were to injury.   

Ray will be taking a trip to Menard's when the kids go home.  I don't think this is how he wanted to spend Valentine's Day evening.  But we are thankful the people we love the most are ok.

I did remember to thank God as soon as the surprise of what had just happened subsided.    For His provision.   His safekeeping.  And His faithfulness.

I believe God always wants to remind us through small acts like this that we are exactly where He wants us to be... and He's still in control.  Of everything.