Suffering A Little While

Today is a very I Peter 5:10 kind of a day. The verse, for those who are unfamiliar, is, "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen."

So I'm in the "suffering a little while" phase of that verse right now, which means I have an awesome promise to look forward to: in the short term, steadfastness; in the long term, glorifying God. But this is why I'm a little flustered.

1. We need to register our car within 30 days of its purchase, which puts us at Nov. 16th, next Wednesday. In order to do that, we need an emissions test on the car. The car won't arrive until December 5th. For those who are unfamiliar, December 5th is after November 16th.  
2. Because we'll be here long term, we have to get our licenses within 30 days of arrival, which puts us at December 8th, but we have no idea when our stuff will get here. I realized that I put our safe and all it's contents (Social Security cards, passports, marriage license) in the shipping container and that was VERY STUPID of me to do, because those are all the things that prove who I am for DMV related activities. Apparently, "I promise I'm telling the truth" doesn't cut it. 

Really,  I'm just mentally suffering in a minor panic that things won't work out and we'll get fined/in trouble with the DMV regarding our car/licenses.

But I do know that I should rejoice in my sufferings because I know that "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5: 3-5) And that Holy Spirit which he caused to live in us envies intensely, yet in spite of all our screw-ups and flirtations with the world and being caught up in it, James 4:6 still holds that ever beautiful promise: "But he gives us more grace." I love that verse because it inherently implies that we are doing things which make the grace even more undeserved, and yet it flows freely nonetheless from our generous and merciful God. Because it is so readily available to us, we just need to turn our backs on temptations, flirtations with the world, and the deceptions of the devil and sprint unhindered towards God so he will lift us up.

Personal application: STOP FREAKING OUT. Trust God, know that everything will be fine in the end. It's like that Jason Mraz song Details in the Fabric
Everything will be fine.

On a SUPER positive note, Nate and I will be moving into our new home on Monday, November 14th! Our new mailing address 4120 Bullard Avenue Unit A, JBER-E, AK 99506. Because our stuff's arrival date is unknown, we will be provided with free loaner furniture for 90 days. Thanks, Aurora Military Housing!