power out. power back.

for those of you who don't know what i am talking about, i am so extremely jealous. for those of you who do, i appreciate your understanding! our power went out on sunday evening at around 7:10pm. we lose our power once or twice a year, and it's always back before i wake up, so i thought nothing of it. that is, until i woke up the next morning, and school was cancelled, due to no power. then tuesday came along and school resumed, but we still had no power at my house. then wednesday, no power at our house. then thursday no power at our house. FINALLY. thursday afternoon, we got our power back. it was extremely humbling and frustrating, living without power for about 91 hours. it was crazy! but it was also a crazy time of learning. there were so many lessons that jesus taught me through this power-outage.
1.) when i would be trying to get ready in the morning, in the bathroom, and holding my little flashlight up to the mirror, just trying to simply see myself, and yet, i couldn't... i would get so frustrated. try putting makeup on, in the complete darkness!! (haha!). but then, the more i thought about it, it also kind of reminded me of what we are called upon to do, constantly, in the real world. as christians, we have our "lights" and we are called into darkplaces, and we try to spread the light, and light up the place/room. BUT, i know i have found, it can be incredibly frustrating and seemingly impossible, if you are the only "light" and you are relying on yourself. we must join our lights with other christians, and we must rely solely on jesus. that's when his light truly shines, and spreads.
2.) sometimes it takes a couple of days without power to become thankful, and to notice the ways in which jesus is constantly at work in your life. like, how easily i forget to become thankful for my lights in my home, and for the microwave, and for the ability to plug in my hair dryer, or turn on my radio, or use my alarm clock. i think we sometimes get so distracted by worldly things (cell phones, computers, tv's, ipods, certain relationships, etc... all of which, can be used for god's glory, but can also easily distract.), and we forget to notice the ways in which god is blessing us, and at work in our lives. i mean, we have an incredible god! one who will turn off your power for a few days, so you can see his power, his love, his blessings, his grace, and his hands at work in your life. how amazing is that.