Sunday, June 17, 2007

Ok God...I'm Listening...

I spent this past week in Abilene with Ashley. She was moving from an apartment to a house with 2 other girls for her senior year at ACU. I can't believe she's a senior! We had a great time together. In fact, I think it was our first actual "grown up" time together if that makes sense. I think we have crossed over to that adult relationship between mother and daughter. We didn't argue once and just had a really great time hanging out. And have I said before I miss having her home this summer?? :)

During the moving process, I think everything that could go wrong went wrong as far as utilities go. The electricity was suppose to be activated in their name on Monday last week. While Ashley and I were in the house on Monday, the electricity all of sudden went off. I saw someone walking around outside so I went out to talk to him. He was very reluctant to talk to me, but said he did not have an order for electricity to be turned on at that address. And of course he was there turning it off because the previous tenants had not paid the bill. (Normally, at least around here, they don't actually turn it off when someone moves. They just read the meter and change the name on the account.) We called the electric company and of course they had no record of anyone calling to have it turned on even though they had been called the previous Monday, a whole 7 days earlier. So, no electricity until Wednesday afternoon. We moved for 3 days in 95 degree weather with no air. What did we ever do without air conditioning! Fortunately, we had her apartment until Tuesday night so we slept there. And Tuesday night some dear friends who live in Abilene let us crash on their couch.

On Tuesday, the cable and internet was suppose to be hooked up. I called them on Monday evening to warn them we had no electricity and the person said, "Oh it's ok, they can still hook it up and that way it will be on when your electricity comes on". So they came out Tuesday and lo and behold, they are not allowed to leave equipment there with no electricity. Big Surprise! I told them about my call the previous day and he called his supervisor. They gave us the direct phone # to the supervisor and told us as soon as it gets turned on, to call him and they would try to send someone out. When the electricity finally came on Wednesday, I called and they had someone out within an hour an a half. So that was great! After he hooked everything up, he was explaining all the equipment and I asked him a question about the DVR (tivo) they were suppose to have..."Oh, you ordered a DVR? They didn't tell me that. This is just a regular cable box." Fortunately he was able to locate one quickly and came back out later that afternoon and switched the boxes out. Our best experience of the week with utilities!

Now with electricity on we began to wash clothes. I noticed after about 3 loads there didn't seem to be any hot water. I thought it going to be hard for 3 girls to shower every day if the hot water doesn't last any longer than that. We left a little while later and went to eat. Ashley had to work that night so I ran some errands. It had been about 4 hours since I had washed clothes when I finally got back. There was still no hot water. I told Ashley to call the landlord because the pilot light must out. They sent out a plumber the next day and guess what... you guessed it, the gas had been cut off because the previous tenant had not paid the gas bill either. After I headed home on Friday the gas company came out and turned on the gas but couldn't find the hot water heater to light the pilot light. And of course they didn't show up until around 8:00 p.m. so it was to late to get a plumber over there. So hopefully tomorrow they will finally have gas...and hot water!

Needless to say it was an interesting week where the utilities were concerned. As many of you know who have read previous posts, I tend to like to be in control. (no duhs here please :) I try really hard to let it go, but lately I have noticed myself having more trouble in that area. This week, it was like God was slapping me up beside my head, saying back off, you CAN'T be in control. I think I finally realized that on my drive home. I started replaying things from the week over in my head and it was like, Ok God, I'm Listening... finally. And as if to reiterate it, all the way home, things kept happening or I kept noticing things that were just one more subtle hint after another. I was flipping radio stations on the way home trying to stay awake. I don't usually listen to country but happened to stop for a few seconds on a country station. The song had just gotten to the chorus which said, "I'm living life in fast forward, I need to rewind real slow". I thought, how many times am I just rushing from one thing to the next and not enjoying things along the way?

Then, when I was about 30 minutes from home, the traffic suddenly came to a stop do to an accident. It was like God was saying, "I'm really not kidding, you aren't in charge". Don't you just love that God has a sense of humor! Fortunately it broke up in about 10 minutes and I continued on. Then I saw a billboard that had paper dolls cut out on it. I don't even know what it was advertising. I noticed that at the front there was one cut off from the rest of the group standing by itself. My thought was, I am cutting myself off from what God wants me connected to by continuing to take control of things I really can't control.

It's really kind of scary. It's obvious that I haven't given up control as much as I thought I had and that God is trying to get my attention. That's always a scary thing, because I know God is leading me somewhere and He wants me to just let Him lead. So once again I'm trying to turn that over to Him.

All in all, it was a great week! I got to spend the entire week with my daughter and that is always one of the great blessings in my life. She will be home on Thursday for a little over a week. I can't wait!

On a side note, Tim Spivey, our minister, is taking a few weeks off and we had the privilege of having Wade Hodges from the Garnett Church in Tulsa, OK speak today. It was great to get to hear him again. He had a great message on "Moving Up From the Back Row" taken from the passage about the Ethiopian Eunuch.

I hope everyone has a blessed week!

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:26-28

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20

4 comments:

Neva said...

I wish I paid more attention so my wake up calls could be less dramatic? Thanks for the post, Liz. I am glad I am not the only one. :)
Have a great week

Peace
Neva

Melanie said...

Wow!! What a week!!! We're driving through Mesquite on Sunday!! I'll honk!

Lynn Leaming said...

I don't know why it is so hard for us to surrender? I struggle with it every day. I think it is great though that you recognize the different ways God was getting your attention. I am also glad that you and Ashley had such a blessed time together. Those are moments to treasure.
And by the way...the only reason I didn't take a pillow on this trip was because we were staying at the Doubletree and I thought it would look tacky at a fancier motel. Guess I'll think twice next time and find a way to camoflauge it in my luggage.

TD said...

I know your feeling! "Ok God...I am listening more now than ever.