There's Almost Always Something...

I'm recovering from a night of being up from 2-5 trying to get 2 bats out of the house. I'm hoping one flew out after I turned the lights back out and opened a few windows and the front door, and waited...but I am sure the other one (if not both😭) is still in the house! I finally went back to bed with my bedroom light on and the covers over my head!  I wished I could have slept with the doors and windows open but I didn't want to host anymore unwelcome visitors!! So this morning's groggy prayer included a plea for bat-finding mercies 😓 ugh!! I am so jumpy at every little rustle. Yesterday, as I opened the potholder drawer, a mouse fled. Ants turn up in the most random places right now!! Small troubles on the grand scale of Trouble but unnerving nonetheless!! This poem was inspired (in small part) by the above mentioned things... There's almost always something to keep courage on its toesTo remind us by whose bestowal is each breath-sized leaseTo keep us more attuned to He whose kindness overflowsWho orders sight-prone footsteps into paths of faith's increase There's almost always something to subject our plans to changeTo keep us more reliant on the Shepherd of our soulsWhose goodness and mercy often sees fit to rearrangeQuick creature-confidence with that which only He controls To teach us to live with awareness of  'if the Lord wills'We will do this or that, go here or there'; all by His graceTo contradict the Charmer with the Armor He instillsTo equip us for battles, seen and unseen, that we face There's almost always something to startle perspective, ohThere's almost always something to humble the prayers we pleadThere's almost always something to revise 'wise reason', soWe learn to lean on He who knows exactly what we need There's always still a bright side; it is God, who loves us soNo trouble is too hard for He who never leads astray Greater is He in us than He who is in the world, so By His power, grace, strength and will, He fits us for Today Janet Martin James 4:15Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” the Treasurer that tallies the measure of the heart