Looking for stones

Sometimes you have to go back and look for stones. Let me explain... In the last 4 weeks, we had various things happen that makes the "normal" side of you say, "Lord, what are you doing?" It started two weeks before Christmas. Good news....Russell received a bonus of several thousand dollars. Bad news, it was gone..... from various broken things....within 3 weeks. We received a letter from our home owner association saying we must put up a new fence...as our old fence was beyond repair. Although it is an old fence, we had just one split rail down. In my opinion, it wasn't beyond repair. Next, our 8 year old dog, Dirk, was dripping blood from his tender part. We took him to the vet and ...he had 8 kidney stones stuck in his urethra. The vet had to do surgery through his boy part and his kidney. They had to sedate him and catherize him for 7 days to allow him to heal. Then, we noticed ...as we drove to Grandma's house...that the van was pulling. Russell thought the van was just out of alignment. Nope.... it had to have 2 new tires... More $$$ gone. Next, we heard chewing in the attic. We thought this was impossible because 4 1/2 years ago we paid thousands of dollars to have metal sheeting placed around the entire top of the house, so nothing could get in. Well a few months after the pest company did this, ... 3 years ago...we got a new roof. We found out last week, that despite the roof company promising they would not touch the metal..they would not mess up the pest company's work. ...they did. Not only did they mess it up, they removed 1/2 of the metal...so we had to pay $$$$ to have the roof line fixed....again. That left us with $28 ..of the bonus. I really wanted to cry. The human part of me wants to say, Lord...it isn't fair. Lord, you know we are trying to save money so we can have a larger living room for all of the people that come to Bible study each Wednesday night and Thursday night. Lord, John-Michael 's medical expenses are so much...we really needed some of that money for those. But...I remember to look for the stones. You see, in Joshua 4.... 12 men placed 12 stones..to remember how God had brought them into the promised land. Moses and the others of the former generation had chosen not to trust in God..and to disobey. Joshua... he choose to be strong and courageous. ..to trust even when it didn't make sense. In Joshua 1, God tells Joshua and the others..that He was taking them into the promise land. .. God tells them that they will take the land from the Hittites. (This is one bad, scary people). Joshua had reason not to be strong and courageous. But....he obeyed because he knew God was strong and loving (Psalm 62). They placed those 12 stones so they could remember a time when they KNEW God was with them...and remembered HIS faithfulness and their own obedience...and willingness to trust...even in a scary situation. I too.... choose to obey...not pitch a holy fit...and be grateful God provided...even if it wasn't for anything fun. :) I look back to the stones in my own life...the times I can CLEARLY see God's hands and trust now...when I can't clearly see God's hands. The stones from the past remind me of His Goodness....that He will never leave me or forsake me.

Well, tomorrow John-Michael has his MRI to make sure the tumor is stable and it hasn't grown.... please remember to pray for him. Also pray for us. The roads are still covered in ice....we aren't sure how we are going to drive to the hospital.