Last month the youth went on a retreat at Camp Chippewa.  My husband and I were among the sponsors who shared the wonders of that weekend with the group.  On Sunday morning, they remained at the camp for their Sunday school lesson while I came back to Topeka for morning worship. 

It was a beautiful morning and after all the games and noise of the night before, the solitude of driving alone was a welcome change.  When I stopped by home to shower and change, however, all the blessings of the morning were forgotten with the flip of one light switch!  The electricity was out in half the house!  In one room the ceiling fan was working but the outlets were not.  The stove was out but the refrigerator was on.  So it went throughout the entire house.  Resetting the breakers did absolutely no good. 

It appeared as though we had no other choice but to call an electrician when I decided to ask our animal sitters if they had noticed anything strange.  The only thing they could remember was turning a light switch on and noticing that the kitchen light did not come on but the outside security light went off! 

We went home and turned the offending switch back off.  It was amazing!  All the electricity worked in all the rooms in all the house!

How often have our lives been like that house?  We make one bad decision, one wrong financial, or one unwise move and, while we continue on with all our usual daily activities, it is like nothing is really working as it should.  On the outside everything looks fine.  On the inside, however, we know just how wrong everything really is.

Many of our choices have long term, perhaps even permanent, effects on our lives and the lives of those we love.  But that does not mean we have to continue struggling under the weight of guilt, shame, or even anger.  All we have to do is get things back in balance.  The best way to do that is to simply flip the switch – to go to God and ask for help!  It is amazing the results you will get when your life . . . your decisions . . . are grounded in prayer and filled with the Spirit!