a year ago today...God's blessing all over the chaos

(I wrote this in April, April 4th ish - and I realize I didn't post it.  Honestly, some of these "milestones" seem strange to celebrate.  This is one of them.)

A year ago today, we went to the airport, got on a plane and (tried) to leave Irkutsk.  I wrote about the experience here.  Long story short - the airplane blew an engine which caused a 9 hour delay.  Funny thing - Anya still remembers that 9 hours!  She was such a trooper...playing games, waling around.  I was more irritated with the whole things than she was!

I was so mad about being delayed a week from going home.  There was some drama with our passport (not sure what it was all about)...but God was protecting us.

A week earlier, there was a terrorist attack in the subway system near Red Square in Moscow.  The attack happened on Monday morning. The morning we were supposed to be there. I can't imagine the chaos in Red Square that followed that attack.  The overwhelming fear of the people.  Not something I would want to be a part of our memory.

You would think that God's protection would have changed my attitude, and taught me to always TRUST HIM and HIS timing. This is where intellectual-reasoning and emotional-reasoning collide.

Yes - intellectually I got it.  God was in control.  But for people like me (and I realize that I am not so unique in a lot of ways), it is hard for we (those that are "do-ers") to stop trying to DO. Allowing God to be in control is something I fear will be a lesson I need to learn over and over and over again

Maybe today that is the bigger lesson; stepping back and (again) giving the glory and praise where it is due.  Praise in the big and small stuff.  Praise in the meltdowns, the temper tantrums (mine and Anya's), in the struggle and yes...in the glory of it all.

Learning to Praise Him in the times of pig faces, silly faces, mean faces and kissy faces is something I don't think we ever really learn to do...if we are honest with ourselves...or do we?