{"id":2016,"date":"2010-12-27T14:57:41","date_gmt":"2010-12-27T13:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pender.org.uk\/?p=2016"},"modified":"2011-08-25T23:55:48","modified_gmt":"2011-08-25T22:55:48","slug":"oh-me-of-little-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/12\/oh-me-of-little-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh me of little faith!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christmas Day was a busy one, calling in at our first round of visits at 11 am and leaving the last one at 11 pm. I could say that it was all go, but I would be more accurate if I said it was all eat. By the time Libby and I got home, we were very full and very tired. Boxing Day had an emergency start as we nearly slept in (as we would have loved to do) and we barely made it to church on time.\u00a0Our church<\/a> is very lively and, even when I am sitting down, I can’t stop moving in time to the music. The result was that I was very tired by the time I got home. We both were, and we settled down to be truly lazy<\/span> relaxed.<\/p>\n

As I have said in That Sinking Feeling<\/a>, when I am not in control I lose the plot and fear gets in. When I am really tired, as I was on Boxing Day, everything becomes a problem. That’s why it was a real disaster when disaster struck.<\/p>\n

To be honest, disaster didn’t strike, but it seemed like it at the time. Our dishwasher decided to spring a leak, and water poured all over the kitchen floor. To be more exact, it poured under <\/em>the kitchen flooring – a nice, easy-to-lay laminate. But easy-to-lay laminate isn’t easy-to-get-up-again, so we had a real struggle lifting it so that we could mop up the water. I was shattered by the end of it, and feeling really down. I looked at the price of new dishwashers, and behold, it was the same as the amount of money Libby and I had been given for Christmas. Thoughts of treating ourselves were washed away. Gloom, despair….<\/p>\n

See, I care about you, and I will pay attention to you.<\/strong> (Ezek 36:9, NLT)<\/p>\n

Why do I do it? Why does my faith crumble so easily? Why do I forget that God is always watching, always caring for me? Why do I let such small things knock a hole in my faith like that? Whenever I face a problem, I always try to fix it myself and I do not immediately turn to the Lord to see what he is doing in the midst of it.<\/p>\n

My God cares for me and he will pay attention to me. That is all I have to remember, all the time, in good or bad. He is always there. Always!<\/p>\n

And as for the money we were given for Christmas, well, gifts aren’t just for Christmas, and we were given the best gift of all. Not just for Christmas. Forever!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas Day was a busy one, calling in at our first round of visits at 11 am and leaving the last one at 11 pm. I could say that it was all go, but I would be more accurate if I said it was all eat. By the time Libby and I got home, we were very full and very tired. Boxing Day had an emergency start as we nearly slept in (as we would have loved to do) and we barely made it to church on time. Our church is very lively and, even when I am sitting down, I can’t stop moving in time to the music. The result was that I was very tired by the time I got home. We both were, and we settled down to be truly lazy relaxed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[15,17,413,33,38,39,48,73,75,77],"class_list":["post-2016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-blessing","tag-christ","tag-christian","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-good-news","tag-jesus","tag-suffer","tag-trouble","tag-worry","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-ww","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7454,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/09\/25-believe-it-or-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":2016,"position":0},"title":"25 – Believe it or not","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7463\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Believe it or not, it is exactly one year ago today that I contacted the GP surgery with my current condition. Believe it or not, I thought I had an infection. If you read my blog from the start of this series, you will find that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7182,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/12\/11-held-and-healed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2016,"position":1},"title":"11 – Held and Healed","author":"Robert Pender","date":"03\/12\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7183\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\"][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_column_text] Held Well, that has been a bit of a week! Last weekend, I probably did a bit much. It's hard to tell, to be honest. In August I was as fit as a fiddle, now there are a few strings broken. I know I can't do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7131,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/7-the-big-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":2016,"position":2},"title":"7 – The Big Sea","author":"Robert Pender","date":"27\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7132\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]For most of the first 20 years of my life I lived next to the Clyde, a beautiful river with stunning scenery around it. Where I was, the river was very wide and was for most of the time calm. Occasionally the wind would get up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7158,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/11\/badsadglad\/","url_meta":{"origin":2016,"position":3},"title":"8 – Bad Sad Glad","author":"Robert Pender","date":"20\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There is no photo at the top of this post because there isn't one which could cover everything that I am going to say. The three weeks since my last post have been a bit busy with appointments and it has been a whirlwind of emotions and news. There have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7117,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/10\/6-yesterdays-tomorrow\/","url_meta":{"origin":2016,"position":4},"title":"6 – Yesterday’s Tomorrow","author":"Robert Pender","date":"18\/10\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7118\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\" css_animation=\"zoomInLeft\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I spent a lot of time thinking about the title of today's episode - Tears for Fears, Yesterday, Perfect Day, Tomorrow Never Comes, All Our Yesterdays - and a couple of dozen others that I can't remember for the life of me. 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