Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

into her pocket, but then a sick look came over her face. She began to search through every pocket on her person. With fear on her face she looked at me and said, "I didn't zip up my pocket after barrowing them from you." I could feel the rolling thunder of anger begin to rise within me. These were not just my car keys! This key ring held all the keys for my office! These keys represented my life! I had evened warned her to be careful. I looked at her sister Rachel, who had this look on her face that said, 'boy, is she gonna get 'it.' As I was about to let her have 'it.' Stephanie said, "I'm sorry Dad." As I looked into her eyes, I saw the pain of every other time I'd let her have 'it.' Suddenly, the rolling angry inside me just melted. And I said, "Well...it looks like we're gonna have an adventure!" Both my daughter's chins nearly hit the ground. Growing up in my house they had both experienced my wrath. They both had this look that said, "Who are you and what have you done with our father?" My heart was immediately filled with joy that God had done a work in me. My inconvenience was a small price to pay so that I could cherish my daughters. It took hours for a tow truck and then hours more to get a new key made so we could drive home. We came off the mountain at 4PM and didn't get on the road until about 10:30PM. The whole time I had an inner joy knowing that God had been working for a long time to bring about my transformation. Paul said in Col. 3:3 NIV, "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." If we have surrendered our lives to Him, He starts working where we can't see. There are clearly things we can do to enhance this inner work, but it's never as fast as we want. There are things we can do and things we can't do. There's so much in the Kingdom we want to acquire that only comes thru quietness and rest. This does not mean we don't work hard. The work of the gospel will wear you out