All means ___________!

As I sit in here at the dining room table writing this post this morning, our house is filled with the sounds and vibrations of men above us removing the old roofing tiles from our roof!  I’ve been working toward today’s activities for a few months now.  Our roof, along with many in our neighborhood, sustained hail damage when a strong thunderstorm, complete with a small tornado hit our area toward the end of last year.  I was originally told by a roofing inspector that our damage was not too bad, so with the holidays coming I put it off because I had enough to deal with at the time!

So, fast track ahead a few months when I talked again to one of the roofers who had originally contacted us and we put the roofing claim into motion.  When our insurance company’s independent adjuster came out to look at the roof he declared that there was damage on the front half of the house but not on the back.  My roofer who was up on the roof with the adjuster disagreed and I had a few conversations with the insurance claims adjuster who relented and told me to have our roofer take some pictures of the back damage and she would add it to the claim!  And weeks later… here we are!

I arose early since I knew that they would be delivering the materials around 7:00 AM and I wanted to be available in case anyone had questions.  But when I woke up I discovered that I was filled with some concerns for… well, to be honest… just about everything!

As I stepped into the bathroom to get ready for the day, I was concerned for Piper’s welfare, the new roof along with the lightning rod system and satellite TV dish that’s up there, the Hospice aid coming by, the new shoes I finally purchased yesterday, how the dog was going to react to all the strangers around the house today, the need to pick up some prescriptions for Piper, when I was going to mow the lawns with rain in the forecast… and the list went on and on!

Then in the middle of all that anxiousness I heard that small still voice inside of me quietly saying, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 God’s Word ©)  But the one word that really seemed to be emphasized in my brain was that little word “ALL” and I immediately thought, “That is a lot!  That means EVERYTHING… doesn’t it?”

And in fact, when I looked up the word “ALL” in the original Hebrew it does mean “The whole, in totality” (Strong’s).  In the Greek it is defined as “Complete in extent, amount, time or degree.” (Strong’s)  And in English it also means “the whole of one's energy or interest.”  So, you can see that in just about any language “ALL” means the same thing… “ALL!”

Not a lot of wiggle room there, wouldn’t you say?  It is kind of embarrassing when the Lord catches you doing something you shouldn’t be doing!  I like the way that the Message Bible puts verse five.  It tells us to “Trust in the Lord from the bottom of your heart…”  When I read that paraphrase this morning my first thought was that the bottom is where the sediment always settles!  And what is the sediment?  According to Dictionary.com it is the “dregs” or “the least valuable part of anything!”

So, I therefore took that thought as meaning that we need to trust the Lord for everything… including the yucky and undesirable parts of life that we might be experiencing, that we tend to let sink to the bottom of the barrel so that we don’t have to deal with it… at least not right away!

Proverbs 3:6 in the Message suggests that we “Listen for GOD's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; (for) he's the one who will keep you on track.”  To me that means that we have to actively turn a deaf ear to the negative thoughts that scream in our heads and turn an attentive ear to God and His voice!

That’s something that I was able to do this morning and boy, do I feel better about everything that’s on my plate!  I still get the nudges from the negative side, but I am working to keep those potentially destructive suggestions quiet!  How?  By regular feedings of the Word while in constant communication with God.  I’d rather hear His voice over those other ones… ANYTIME!  Wouldn’t you?

So, I’ll turn back to my daily activities… try to ignore the bangs, creaks, and hollers from the roofers up there and concentrate on the Lord, His Word and how great it will be to have a nice new covering over our heads!

Have a great weekend and let HIM have ALL your cares and concerns today!  And while you’re at it, keep telling yourself that… “I am expecting to trust in the Lord today with ALL my heart… for EVERYTHING!”