Lesson From a Kitchen Faucet

A few weeks ago our kitchen faucet totally broke. I mean, it just plain broke.

But ironically enough, I think it was an answer to a prayer. Here's the story:

I was strolling through Target, looking at all of the cute clothes and great books and whatnot. When suddenly, I felt envy creeping into my soul. I couldn't believe it. I thought I had conquered that sin (by the power of the Holy Spirit working in me).

In the past, I had banned myself from Target. I wouldn't allow myself to go there until I could go there without coveting everything in the store.

An envious heart is incredibly yucky! Moreover, God tells us not to covet "anything that belongs to (our) neighbor" in the Ten Commandments.

So anyways, I went home and prayed. I had to confess my sin to God and I asked Him to help me be thankful for what I have. He has blessed me so much and I knew it was wrong to look for fulfillment or satisfaction in anything other than Him.

Lo and behold, our kitchen faucet broke that very afternoon.*

So in order to clean the dishes, I had to carry water to the kitchen sink from the bathroom. (Our bathroom sink is too small to fit dishes in it.) Now let me tell you that our bathroom is ridiculously close to our kitchen. It's not even ten steps away. However, I found myself "fetching" the water with a bad attitude, complaining in my spirit about the "extra work" the broken faucet was causing.

And then I remembered that so many people in the world do not even have running water. In fact, I looked it up online and found that one person in five has no access to clean water. In addition, I was reminded of my dear friend who spent all summer in Alaska hauling water from a river (I think it was a river - point was that she had no running water) so that she could take care of her family while her husband did some missionary work. Boy was I convicted!

And I realized that God answered my prayer because I was immediately moved to stop and thank Him for our water. (Which is actually even more "ironic" because Josh works in the water services for our city.)

And since then I have been thanking Him daily for all the little things I so easily take for granted. Which brings us to my favorite holiday... Thanksgiving!

I'm getting so excited for Thanksgiving. Not because of the food, but because I love what this holiday is all about - being thankful. And because I love Thanksgiving weather. Hope you're getting excited too!

*Thankfully, we're renting right now so all I had to do was call our landlord and within a few days the kitchen sink was all fixed, no costs to us. See, that's another thing I'm thankful for: having a landlord!