"Various Trials"

Sunday morning's message was taken from the book of James, chapter 1:
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials......"

The basic point: We are to be joyful in any trial that comes our way, remembering that trials are a gift from God. Our response should not be complaining.

That was what I heard Sunday morning. This was the rest of my day:

I went home and ate lunch, then prepared to make a birthday cake for Barb. I looked at the recipe and realized that it called for "unsalted butter". I went to the fridge and saw 7 sticks of salted butter. O.k. Did it make a difference? I had no idea. What if I used the salted butter and the cake was way too salty? I didn't want to take the chance. I called my parent's house- no unsalted butter there. I called Barb's sister- no answer. I called work- ah, unsalted butter. I wouldn't have to go to the store. I hopped in the car and went to pick it up. I love the fact that I live so close to work.

I came back home and proceeded to soften the butter, then went to the fridge to get the eggs. I needed 4 eggs- I had 1 egg. Wonderful. I went and put my shoes back on, climbed back in the car and drove to the nearest store. Who knew they would be closed on Sunday? O.k. I drove to another store. I bought a dozen eggs for $2.34- I refused to drive all the way to Walmart for eggs that were less than a dollar.

I came back home again and finished baking the cake. I let it cool. I got ready for choir practice, and then came back to the kitchen to frost the cake. I mixed up some frosting, without following a recipe- it looked pretty good, I thought. I started frosting the cake. I never finished frosting the cake. The top looked good. I started to do the sides and the frosting slid off- apparently, I could have used a lot more powdered sugar in my recipe. I ended up with the ugliest cake in the world, but I took it to the party, and we ate it anyway. At least it tasted good.

After the party, I came home. I was very tired. I started getting ready for bed. I noticed a can of starch on the bathroom floor and my OCD kicked in- the starch needed to be in the other room by the ironing board. I picked it up and carried it down the hall. I leaned over to set it on the floor next to the ironing board. Whack! I hit my face on a chair that was sitting there. Actually I hit my mouth, and my tooth cut right into my bottom lip. My first reaction- "Ouch!" I laughed. I really can be so clumsy. Then I tasted blood and went to the mirror. It was not a pleasant sight. Karyn got some ice for me. I held it there a long time. The blood just kept coming. I switched to a hot washcloth, and finally my lip stopped bleeding. I took some ibuprofen and went to bed.

During the whole cake fiasco, I kept saying to myself, "Rejoice. Rejoice. Don't complain." As I attempted to frost the cake, Barb was standing next to me saying, "Count it all joy." I ended up laughing a lot- on any normal day, I would have been really ticked off. I can't say that I was overly joyful about slicing my lip open- it really did hurt. But I survived. It was all part of a long, weird day. "Various trials." Any little trial, not just big life- altering ones. I still don't know exactly what God was trying to teach me- maybe I just needed some practice to see what kind of response I would make. If it hadn't been for the message, I could have ended up having a really grumpy day, but all in all it was a pretty good day and I'm thankful for whatever God was trying to teach me!