Sunday, June 05, 2005
On the Road Again...With a Gimp
We got Mabel the Sable back from the garage yesterday evening, and it's running again. I suppose it's as good as it's going to get for the car that it is, and I'm just thankful to have our transportation back. We have discovered "new" problems in the car, however, which concern us, but we can only do what the budget allows. I think, in the end, we are just going to have to get a new car...well, a "newer" car. It seems, sometimes, that when we fix one thing in the car, another "thing" breaks down or needs replacing, and we are forever putting our savings into it; savings that should be going toward an apartment.
I am going to stay strong on this one, because, as God says:
And be steadfast in patience; for verily Allah will not suffer the reward of the righteous to perish. HUD 115
I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. PSALM 40:1-3
I see Mabel as a symbol of our life at the moment; how it feels to try to run forward and find yourself going backward like a weird dream. Yet, I know that at the end of it is that "pot of gold". Perhaps the reward will not be financial gain, but better still wisdom, gleaned from the experience itself, and a knowledge of survival that we wouldn't have learned otherwise. God's promise is not that we will be rich and famous, but rather that we will not perish (into Hell). THIS life isn't the important one, but it is how we deal with this life that determines how we will live in the next. It is comforting to know that God watches out for us and our needs and that there are rewards for our patience and longsuffering. We walk with imperfection in our lives because we are human. We cannot make everything happen for ourselves all of the time, which is proof that we need to rely on God's judgment for us. He is omnipotent (Al-Alim), which pretty much means He knows everything. Think about that concept..."He knows everything." He knows what we say, what we do, how we speak to ourselves, even in our hearts. (He knows about that face you made behind your Husband's back!) He sees the good things we do, and He jots them down. (He also sees the bad things...and jots them down.) And He knows what we need, and in what time we need it. So, if God knows these things, and of course He is greater than we are, then we must be patient with Him. After all, He is more than patient with us.
In time, we will have a better car, an apartment and a decent wage, InshaAllah, (if it is God's will). Until that time, we will live in this flea-bag motel along I-10, drive "Mabel, Mabel the Mercury Sable", and eat from the microwave. But, if it isn't God's will that we have those things, then I KNOW that someday we will have a mansion with groves and groves of palm trees by rivers of water. We won't need a car. We won't need food. And we'll never cry again.
I am going to stay strong on this one, because, as God says:
And be steadfast in patience; for verily Allah will not suffer the reward of the righteous to perish. HUD 115
I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. PSALM 40:1-3
I see Mabel as a symbol of our life at the moment; how it feels to try to run forward and find yourself going backward like a weird dream. Yet, I know that at the end of it is that "pot of gold". Perhaps the reward will not be financial gain, but better still wisdom, gleaned from the experience itself, and a knowledge of survival that we wouldn't have learned otherwise. God's promise is not that we will be rich and famous, but rather that we will not perish (into Hell). THIS life isn't the important one, but it is how we deal with this life that determines how we will live in the next. It is comforting to know that God watches out for us and our needs and that there are rewards for our patience and longsuffering. We walk with imperfection in our lives because we are human. We cannot make everything happen for ourselves all of the time, which is proof that we need to rely on God's judgment for us. He is omnipotent (Al-Alim), which pretty much means He knows everything. Think about that concept..."He knows everything." He knows what we say, what we do, how we speak to ourselves, even in our hearts. (He knows about that face you made behind your Husband's back!) He sees the good things we do, and He jots them down. (He also sees the bad things...and jots them down.) And He knows what we need, and in what time we need it. So, if God knows these things, and of course He is greater than we are, then we must be patient with Him. After all, He is more than patient with us.
In time, we will have a better car, an apartment and a decent wage, InshaAllah, (if it is God's will). Until that time, we will live in this flea-bag motel along I-10, drive "Mabel, Mabel the Mercury Sable", and eat from the microwave. But, if it isn't God's will that we have those things, then I KNOW that someday we will have a mansion with groves and groves of palm trees by rivers of water. We won't need a car. We won't need food. And we'll never cry again.
