TurboTax

Taxes.  What to do?  Where in TurboTax do you enter this one last tortuous number?  That was us in our living room a couple of weeks ago.  Frustration rising.  On the verge of screaming.  And actually TurboTax has been good to us.  But somehow this year we had one spot of trouble related to foreign tax.  Noticing my husband's anxiety about to erupt, I inquired, “Have you asked the Lord?”  His answer:  “No.”  So I prayed.  “Lord, help!  Please point us to the section we need in order to finish these taxes.”  And then we kept hunting.  Not here.  Not there.  Check again.  Still not here.  Still not there.  A gruff mumbling burdened the room.  But then an interruption.  I looked up to a stunning glow upon my husband’s face.  A radiant beam of relief, of immense thanks, almost unbelief.  That seemingly endless string of computer clicks and searching all around had now sorted.  It was solved.  Finished.  The Lord had shown us where to enter that last number.  And there my knee hit the floor to offer Him a truly huge thank-you.  How easily any of us can fall into the danger of tackling a task on our own.  Then when the unexpected problem hits, we sink into feeling weary, leaving us blinded from inviting the Lord's presence.  And so I am humbled by this experience with our taxes.  And I wonder too for your sake, how does this story translate?  Are you facing a problem?  Some kind of dreaded task staring you down?  I encourage you to seek the Lord.  Proverbs 19:23 says, “The fear of the Lord leads to life:  then one rests content, untouched by trouble.”

Learn Russian?

Why learn Russian?  Will I ever use it?  The idea hit months ago.  And I asked the Lord.  I enjoy reviewing my Russian language notes from our trip to Israel in October.  Our translator taught me words like privyet and spasiba, and when I talk with her on Skype now, I try to still use them.  One day I dialed up YouTube and learned menya zovut.  When I checked it with my translator friend, she verified that it does mean 'my name is.'  Then my theatre group performed at a local school, and as we met the cafeteria staff providing lunch, how fun to meet a man from Russia and be able to tell him spasiba (thank you) for the meal.  One day with church, I smiled to say privyet to greet my Russian friend and was pleasantly surprised to learn we have a new family too with ties to Russia.  And as recently as this Friday, I was at the grocery store and heard a man and a woman speaking a language that could’ve been Russian.  Seems I keep asking the Lord, and circumstances keep me in earshot of the language.  Certainly nothing's felt discouraging in any way.  So still, as much as I’d love to return to Israel, will the Lord call me again to visit the Holocaust survivors there who speak Russian?  Or could He be connecting me with an entirely new group of Russian speakers?  Yesterday I ordered my public library’s only Russian language book:  The complete idiot’s guide to learning Russian.  I’m diving in.  No set schedule.  No pressure.  And I'm happy about it.  May the Lord keep my eyes open.  And how exciting if all this leads up to meeting someone new at the library too.

Flecks in the paint

Be patient.  Don’t touch.  If a little fleck flies into the paint, just leave it alone.  Later when the cabinet door is all dry, the fleck lifts out in a snap.  We’re using oil-based paint for our kitchen cabinets.  Too many times already, I’ve tried to fix a spot and felt that dreaded drag of the brush.  But today we had warm weather, and I lined up 7 new doors.  A new batch.  A new outlook.  My mission:  Don’t try to touch up.  Let the imperfections sit.  It’s much easier to touch up after the main coat dries.  It’s kind of like life.  Every fleck of discomfort we want to fix.  Every unknown we want to figure out right then.  But sometimes it’s good to wait.  See what God has in store.  Ask Him to give wisdom and show what to do.  Isaiah 30:18 says, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him!”  May we remember He can have good reason for those flecks to sit a while.  He might incorporate those flecks into a new and beautiful blessing.