Yesterday morning I went into Kingstown looking for someone who could replace the battery in my iPhone, which died on Friday. The battery had been giving me trouble for a while, so it wasn’t surprising that this happened.
Getting proper parts for apple phones is difficult here since they need to be shipped from the States. Covid along with other things delays these shipments, so it isn’t uncommon to have to check a few places before finding someone who has it
Around 8:30 yesterday morning I asked a local repair shop if they had a battery for my phone. They didn’t, so an employee called their boss on the phone, who asked me to come back at 12:00.
Suddenly I had a big decision to make….
Do I wait around three hours to see if he can find a part? Or do I come back another day?
Because he asked me to come back at 12:00, I decided to spend the time in town, in hopes that my phone could get fixed.
after running errands, doing sermon-prep, reading, and taking a walk it was finally 12:00. I excitedly went back to the store, hoping to get my iPhone battery.
The employee took one look at me, and called the boss…..
She said “well the man came back”, which is never a good sign
Long story short, he wasn’t able to get the part in time, and asked me to come back today.
I left the store pretty frustrated:
- My phone still wasn’t fixed
- I’d spent a lot longer time in town than expected
- The rest of the day would be spent trying to catch up on the things I was supposed to be doing in Barrouallie during the three-hour wait
Sometimes life brings very unproductive days, or as I like to call them “wasted days.” The truth is these days aren’t exactly wasted but instead you don’t get the things done that you planned to finish. These days are always frustrating, but particularly so when its something outside of your control like my situation yesterday,.
That frustration is a natural and human thing 1. But its how we respond to those frustrations that make a big difference.
- You can be bitter for the rest of the day
- You can give up and feel sorry for yourself since not much can be accomplished anyways
- Or you can accept that situation as the Will of God
Scripture is clear that sometimes our plans are not Gods plans. It may be my plan to get my phone fixed in an hour, and then be back home by 10:30. But Gods plan may be for me to get home at 1:30.
When my plan doesn’t match Gods then the attitude of my heart is revealed.
Will I submit to a wasted day because it is Gods Will? Or will I be angry because the Lord didn’t do things “my way”?
submission to the God’s Will when it’s not the same as ours is hard. But we can do it because whatever God brings into our lives is best
He will never give me a stone when I ask for bread
He will never give me a snake when I ask for an egg
EVERYTHING God brings into my life is for my own benefit
So I submit to the frustrating days spent in town while rejoicing in the productive days, because both come from the loving hand of God.
Around 10:00 this morning I will go back to the cell-phone repair shop and pray the battery can be replaced. Even if it isn’t though, and I have to come back tomorrow, thats okay.
Because that experience is the Will of God
- Nobody likes to wait for three hours ↩
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