“Count it all joy, my brothers (and sisters), when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” —James 1:2-4
In mid-March the ground cover was still white. Okay, dirty white. The snowy winter we had was delightful for our family, but having experienced our first snowfall way back in mid-October and many since, we’d become weary of it. Visions of spring bulbs and birds building their nests filled my reverie.
Spring—its starting to arrive…
With all the melting snow and rainy days, the slush and mud has become a messy issue. We live off of 98th Street just over the county line—it is not paved. When we moved into our neighborhood over two years ago we were assured that the county would be paving it by now. It’s always a messy problem. We cannot park in our garage because our cars are dripping with mud, and because of mandatory water rationing, we cannot wash them.
One day recently, I was driving home with my boys, and 98th Street was nearly impassable. The mud was so thick and the puddles were getting deeper that we weren’t sure we’d make it. We plowed through in our big ol’ pick-up in 4-wheel drive, but we nearly got stuck in the mud. I put an extra pair of heavy duty, water-proof boots in the back incase we do get stuck.
All of this reminds me of one mid-winter night in 2009, when we were attending a celebratory dinner at a friend’s home on their ranch—Steinbeck’s Vineyard. I knew how to get to their daughter’s home on their vast property, but couldn’t remember how to get to the main house. My hubby had just departed for a business trip, and I had my two little boys in tow as we rushed out as to not be late. In my haste I left without the directions.
It was getting dark, and I was pretty sure that I knew how to get there—at least I thought I did. I made it to Cindy’s house on the property. I remembered driving through the property on the jeep at one time through back roads to the main house from there, but it seemed confusing now. I phoned the house, and Cindy adamantly told me not to take that back road to the house.
Cindy told me to go back out to the main road and she would meet me in a particular location and we could follow her to Mom and Dad’s from there. We back-tracked and I went to the spot which she had instructed. I was getting a little frazzled and impatient knowing that we were already late. It seemed as if it was taking forever and she still hadn’t met us in the prescribed place. I thought that maybe I had misunderstood her and in my haste, I took things into my own hands and decided to figure it out for myself.
Returning back to where I had started, I took a chance and ventured through the back roads of their hundreds of acres of vineyards. At first it all seemed familiar. We were on our way. Then we came to a fork in the road and I guessed which way to go. It was the wrong way. I turned around. We were lost and it was getting darker. I became even more frazzled than I had been twenty minutes prior. I seemed to be making bad choices all around.
The boys sensed my uneasiness. I could see the house on the hill where we needed to go, but I couldn’t get there. Finally, I turned onto what became a dirt road; I could see that it would likely get us to our destination. We were getting closer, but it was getting muddier.
Ultimately, it was too muddy to continue. The only choice was to turn around. As I was turning our minivan around, hands shaking, and my toddler crying, we got stuck in the mud. This could not be happening. I rocked our minivan back and forth to get out only to dig in deeper. Trying over and over again only made it worse. The more I tried to get unstuck, the more stuck I became.
It was now dark, and we could see the lights in the house up on the hill. Finally giving up, we ultimately left the minivan where it was trapped and walked through the cold, muddy vineyard up to their house. We made it to the party—barely. Spencer excitedly related our adventure to everyone, while Alec cried, and my hands shook from the cold air and weary nerves.
We shed our filthy shoes and wet coats while friends made us feel better with niceties. Everyone was gracious; I was mortified. Bev Steinbeck loaned me a vehicle to get home that evening after the party. A few days after the fiasco when the mud in the vineyard had relatively dried, some of the ranch hands helped pull our minivan out of their vineyard.
When I met Bev to swap vehicles, she had kindly washed it for me, but couldn’t get all the mud out of the wheel wells. The reminder of being stuck in the mud was going to be a visual for a little while longer. Cindy and I laugh to this day about that debacle. After thinking about it, I told her it seemed similar to life’s experiences. Sometimes we get stuck in the mud and keep spinning our wheels unable to move. Funnier still, she had gotten stuck in the same muddy vineyard and had to be rescued so many times that her family made her business cards with the job title, “Chief Getter Stucker.”
The next morning I wrote Cindy the following letter after she related my story in her daily blog that very day:
Dear Cindy, I wondered how you were going to relate my "mud" story. Last night I was beating myself up for making a host a bad decisions (having already been overtired, upset, and disappointed); I finally decided to give myself a break and get some sleep—easier said than done. I woke up this morning and started all over again. I have been "miring" in mud of bad decisions—nothing monumental, but enough to leave me mentally “stuck," digging in deeper and sometimes seemingly hard to move forward.
Ultimately, abandoning our car to the mud and moving on last night made me realize that I just need to temporarily stop mentally miring in that "mud," which would only get deeper, and to move on to what I can control… and make clearer, wiser decisions. It was a good lesson. I am fortunate that we had good friends to help us through it.
The only way to get unstuck is through faith. I will no longer mire in the mud of bad decisions or the “what ifs” of this life. Instead I will steadfastly move forward to that which God has in store for my family and me. Our faith has been tested and steadfastness is the result.
I will no longer ask for a trial-less life. Instead, without doubt, my priority is to pray through the trials—through the messy, muddy times. I faithfully pray for wisdom, strength, and steadfastness as to not mire (only to get stuck). And ultimately, I count it all joy for I know I lack nothing—I am complete—as God is faithfully working in and through me to perfect me in His image.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. —James 1:2-6
* The flooding in much of Nebraska has devastated several communities. It makes me feel like a whiner complaining about our muddy road when so many roads, homes, and farms are under water. Please continue to pray for and support those who have been affected by these circumstances. Messiah is offering opportunities to help with Flood Relief .