Looking for Jesus in the Difficulties of Life

I read a great devotional the other day that reminded me that Jesus Christ is always present in a believer’s life but Satan uses three tactics to keep us for looking for Him in the difficulties we face. Those three “D’s” were distraction, deception and discouragement. I have found this so true over the years. You know that that is true when you are facing what seems like a major crisis/disaster of life, but more often than not it is the little things that tend to get to you the most. They kind of slip under your radar as something that you “need” to take to the cross—
You know the kind of things that I am talking about:
The waist band you are about to slip into goes “crackle, crunch, snap” (in protest of living too long in the desert heat) just as you are about to pull it on
The dog jumps on you with muddy paws just as you are rushing to an important meeting
You catch you favourite shirt (and it rips) on the corner of the chair that you keep meaning to fix and never seem to get around to
Or worse you keep hearing those voices inside your head that tell you “you aren’t good enough”, “you can’t do it”, ”you really messed up and will never be able to fix it”, “your fat, ugly and your mother/wife dresses you funny”... that sort of thing
I started writing this a week ago and at the time I really thought that I was getting a handle on the concept of keeping my focus on Jesus and letting him handle the little things and then I got really busy. I had one of those weeks when everything seems to be booked into the same week and you are running from event to event because there is just enough time to make it and they all seem like opportunities that you can’t miss. This was also coincided with Dave started preaching on 2^nd Timothy –renewing your calling, “pass on what you have learned to faithful men” (that you might have a legacy), oh and let me not forget “share in the sufferings of Christ”. I also went to the English worship service that night and heard a great sermon on how Satan tries to deceive us by misdirecting us. (Anyone else notice a theme here...)

Needless to say, I wasn’t too surprised when our power cut out at 3 am and didn’t come back on. What was surprising was that Dave and I had the same response at 5:30 am when we were trying to get ready for school in the dark –“check the breaker”. But it was the source of the issue that really got our attention. As I flipped the breaker on the house and the power came on Ben called me to see what he found in the pantry. The electrical outlet on the freezer had exploded out of the wall. I don’t know if you can see from the picture but the heat of the fire melted the outlet and fused it to the cord of the regulator. The regulator was fried but thankfully the freezer was fine. Nothing else (other than maybe the wiring in the wall and a second outlet) was damaged. We are so grateful for God’s hand of protection on our lives and for people like you who pray for us regularly.
I guess what I am trying to get at, but maybe not communicating all that well because of my hot season fatigue, is that trials and difficulties come to all of us in this world. But you don’t have to face them alone and that can make all the difference