It's been a long day over here. I'm in my jammies and ready for bed! Ever since we bought a house, I have worried about the basement flooding. Every time it even sprinkles, I run down to check the sump pump. I know basements flooding is a regular event for some people, but for me it just seemed like a nightmare. For the last few months, I've felt this nudge to really go through our stuff and minimize. We have too many toys, too much junk, too much everything. I wanted to find a day to go through the entire basement and just pitch stuff and donate stuff and sell stuff. I just hadn't got to it yet... and this morning, I found time real quickly. God knew what was ahead and He TRIED to tell me...
This morning as Nick and I went into action mode and moved most of our basement to our living room while soaking up buckets and buckets of water from our floor, I felt nothing but peace. I immediately asked Nick what the plan of action was and how I could be the most helpful. We even laughed! In the past, doomsday Grace would have surfaced and panic would have ensued. I would have immediately blamed Nick for something that was out of his control and been frustrated with him when he couldn't fix it. Anxiety would have set in about money and damage and all of the details and my heart would have raced. Over the past several months, I have been retraining my brain to turn to prayer rather than worry. I'm still a work in progress and relying on God every day, but consciously choosing faith over worry is slowly becoming my norm.
So yes, I've feared this for years - and then it happened - and it was really nothing to fear in the grand scheme of things. It pales in comparison to the struggles others faced today and trials I've faced in my own life. Sure, we threw away a lot of stuff, and the money we had been saving for months to redo our kitchen flooring I've been waiting to long to redo will be drained as soon as we get the bill ... but it just doesn't even matter.
As we hauled stuff upstairs and threw stuff away, these two verses kept coming to mind:
Phillipians 4: 6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
When your husband is pumping water out of your basement from 6am-2pm before calling in the pros and then only takes a break to go coach his son's soccer team - rumor has it - you somehow fall even more in love with him.
As I stared at all the boxes and tubs and piles of stuff in our living room, I could not figure out WHY we had any of it. None of this stuff is coming with me when I'm called home, and honestly - it's just kind of weighing me down. If I could throw it away in one second because it was ruined, I probably didn't need it in the first place.
There were so many things to be thankful for this morning - that Nick slept in and didn't make it to the Y so he discovered the water before leaving for work, that it was a Monday so I had an extra kid here to play with/distract the kids, that within an hour dehumidifiers and shop vacs were flying through our front door from friends all over town, that people from church were showing up to help us decide what to do, that it was finally Spring so the kids and I could spend 4 hours at the park while Nick worked on the basement, that our basement was the driest basement the professionals had seen all day (12+ inches of snow melting in one day is just not a good thing), and that Nick and I got an unexpected date this morning (It was so loud down there that we couldn't hear the kids so it was pretty much like a date!)
Today we got the opportunity to teach our kids about what we should really treasure in our hearts and how our reactions in these situations quickly reveal what those treasures are. We got to show them how a husband and wife are a team. We got to show them what hard work looks like. We got to show them how people are good and how important it is to show up without complaint when people need you. And we got to show them that when life hands you lemons, you really should just choose to make lemonade.. or go out for Godfather's buffet. Plus, Trice thought it was super fun when I told him we were on the Titanic and it was sinking so we had to get everything to higher ground.
Finally called in the professionals!
Every day as I lean into him a little more, fear and anxiety loosen their grip on me. It is incredibly freeing to know that God is going to use every situation for good - to look back on every giant I've faced and every storm I've weathered - and see God's hand holding me through it all. While I don't love a flooded basement, I'm always grateful for opportunities to choose to trust and rest in his faithfulness.
Off to bed in a very noisy house with a very grateful heart ready to conquer whatever life throws at us tomorrow... like getting that pesky ground squirrel out of our garage or maybe replacing the kitchen faucet since we've been without a kitchen sink since Easter or maybe actually we have people coming over for supper even though we can't walk in our living room and have no sink.. you know, whatever.
