Momentary Afflictions

I had a rough day the other day. I mean, a really rough day. The kind of day that makes you want to go run and hide in a cave and never come out.

First of all, the car that my son would use to commute back and forth to college, broke down on the road. God protected him, though, but we had to pay for a tow truck to come take the car to a garage. We waited on pins and needles to hear the damage for the car.

Secondly, I was also anticipating a job interview that evening. I haven’t been on a job interview for a really long time.

Thirdly, I had to call the NCAA to make sure they had all the paperwork they needed for my son to swim on a college team. I had to wait on hold for almost twenty minutes. They are three hours different in time. And they’re a gigantic organization.

Fourthly, I was trying to solve something with my bank. I was trying to do it online, but my computer kept freezing.

We got a call from the garage who was looking at the car. The car needed a whole new engine. It would cost $3500. That was steep. We had to decide what to do with the car. Do we go ahead and fix it? My son needed a car to get back and forth to school. A used car would cost way more than that.

I finally got through to the NCAA. They talked with me and told me I had all the paperwork I needed.

My son came home from college to tell me he needed to go back and get a temporary parking permit, since his car was out of commission. He said the guy at the gate was salty about it all.

Nothing I did on line with my bank was working. I needed to call them directly. When I did, I was on hold for quite awhile.

I was a bundle of nerves as I anticipated the job interview later that day. My mind swirled. Do we pay that $3500? How will I do on the interview? How come I can’t get through to my bank. Why do I have to spend so much time, on the phone, on hold? I wanted to run and scream and hide.

In the midst of all my angst, my phone rang. It was my mother. She called to tell me she had some good news. I told her I could use some good news. Anything, as long as it was good.

She said my uncle had just accepted the Lord as his Savior. He’s much older than my dad and who knows how many years he has left, but now he knew the Lord. I was speechless. That was good news. I couldn’t talk, so I told my mom I would talk later. I got off the phone and sat there, stunned at what God had just done. My problems hadn’t gone away. The car still needed to be fixed for $3500. I still had to go to an interview later that day. I still had spent most of my morning on hold, waiting to solve all these problems. And in my addled state God spoke to me. Your uncle just accepted the Lord as his Savior. These are the things that matter, the Lord was telling me. And I saw it. I realized it in that moment. Then the verse in Corinthians popped into my mind:

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

Thank You Lord.