I’m sure this will be funny later

I want to start off by saying that I am blessed. I am so thankful that God has provided me with a home in the DR that is safe, comfortable, and beautiful.

Yet there comes a time in every home dweller’s life when things don’t go as planned and quite frankly, drive you crazy.

Yesterday’s plans were to wake up early, workout, go to church, and hang out with friends. I thought it was getting better when I received a call from a relative of our landlord saying he wanted to drop by before I left for church to take some measurements so they could put in a water heater! This was music to my ears as I’ve missed taking nice hot showers this year.

Upon taking the measurements, they decided they would just install in right away since one of them would be leaving for the States soon. Eager to get my hot water all hooked up, I told them it was fine for them to stick around a while and get to work.

Fifteen hours later…here’s the short story of what has passed:

• Water heater installed-yay!
• Broken valve in one of the bathrooms-woops
• Chiseling at concrete wall to get to broken pipe-loud, and is that normal?
• 5 men in the bathroom yell “We need a mop” followed by downstairs neighbor coming upstairs to let us know he doesn’t appreciate the water leaking from his ceiling-uh oh
• Water spraying everywhere and flooding bathroom-OMG!!!
• Neighbor: “My ceiling just caved in!”-This is getting out of control!
• Problem still not fixed, but don’t worry, we just shut off the water to the entire building so it shouldn’t flood-I want to curse.

Well, it’s now the next morning and here I am, un-showered with a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, (you don’t even want to ask about what’s in the toilet, lol), and I feel like I ‘m being held hostage in my own apartment.

Of course, in these times I have got to readjust my perspective and be Christlike-I am a missionary after all. But seriously, God is so gracious to me even when I feel like acting out in my frustration that He reminded me this morning that He has given me everything I need in the midst of this situation to keep my cool:

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a life of godliness…these promises enable me to share in his divine nature.                                    -2 Peter 1:3,4

In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships of every kind [even silly household mishaps].          -2 Corinthians 6:4

I know I have every right to be frustrated in this situation. But it doesn’t help me feel any better and it certainly can’t be refreshing to others around me. There’s a reason God gave us verses like these, not only to convict us of our humanly ways, but to teach us a way to live in his peace.

I said this would be funny later, and pictures sometimes help me conjure up that emotion so here’s one to share so you can laugh with me:

Whose idea was it to put the pipes in the middle of a concrete wall?