Tuesday, July 29, 2008

How Easy I Forget!

How easy it is for me to forget God's goodness and presence in my life? Yesterday I was talking about how God helped me in my preparations for the Missions Ministry's exhibition. This afternoon I totally forgot that He could have helped me again when I was told by one of the printing shops' staff that my format for the posters was wrong and too big.

My sister was with me when we went shopping for some stuff. Along the way we found this one shop in Peninsula Plaza and that was when I was told about the above-mentioned. Of course I got frustrated and anxious as it was a tedious process to do the layouts of all 8 posters. The thought of re-doing the whole thing at that point of time almost killed me.

As always, she was kind enough to sit down with me at a food-court to see whether she could re-do the layout. It was possible but just too time-consuming. Moreover she had to leave early to meet her family for dinner. With that, I decided to just call it a day. Oh yah, I called another sister-in-Christ and she advised me as to what else I could have done.

As I look back now, I was blinded by a lot of alternatives and avenues which the Lord had provided. I was too engrossed with my anxieties that I was totally oblivious to His presence and promptings.

First, there was my sister whom I know was willing to help me with the reformatting of the posters. Second, there was this other sister-in-Christ who actually asked me to send her the first format which I did to see whether she could help me. Third, another brother-in-Christ also offered his assistance which I mentioned yesterday. Fourth, my sister asked me to consider other shops to see whether they could help. Four solutions given to me and yet I chose to focus on the problem.

I guess this is the result of leaning too much on my own understanding in resolving a problem hence forgetting the One who could have helped me solve it!

I felt really lousy after seeing my sister off at the bus-stop. I decided to walk to Bras Basah Complex to see whether the shops over there could help me. My sister's mum actually suggested this place when she was told that we were going to print the posters.

I prayed as I walked to the complex, asking God to provide a way out for me. I also sought His forgiveness for having reacted negatively to this little problem. I am able to say it is "little" now because my eyes are opened to my foolishness and childishness. This afternoon the whole saga felt as if the end of the world was approaching. :(

Anyway, I walked around and found this shop which was already closing for the day. I walked away but this lady in the shop saw me and asked how she could assist. I shared with her the problem mentioned earlier in the blog. She asked for my thumb-drive, opened the file, considered the problem and said she could resolve the matter for me.

Man, I have never heave such a huge sigh of relief when she assured me that she could do it. Realising that I needed to print 8 A2-size posters, she asked whether I could pick them up tomorrow. I told her I was unable to as I had prior appointments made. She spoke to her colleagues and they all decided to help me do the lay-outs and printing.

Within 45 minutes, everything was done. I thanked all of them profusely, paid for their services and headed home happily. I hung on to those posters ever so tightly when I was heading home as they are prized products of the struggles I have been experiencing since last week.

Though ashamed of the way I handled this matter, I have nothing else to say except thanks be to God!

I hope I will remind myself constantly that God will always be there for me. He had seen me through more serious and life-threatening issues in my pilgrim's journey and yet in small problems like this afternoon's, I have failed to notice His presence.

Lord, be patient with me, I pray.

All glory to Him!

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

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