In the Hand of the Lord

 

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. ~Proverbs 21:1

Today I had to report for jury duty. I was not happy about this. Until today, I had never left Clara home with a babysitter. We had left her with one or another of our parents a couple of times during visits. She had hung out at our friends the Niles' house while we went trail-riding. But we had never left her home with a "sitter." No one but me had put her down for a nap. You may think this is good or bad, sweet or strange, an example of dedication or codependency. Regardless of what you think, it has worked for us and we have all been happy.

 

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. ~Proverbs 16:9

I was first called for jury duty in March. I postponed it as long as I could, but this time I finally had to serve. I was on telephone standby and so yesterday evening I called to learn my fate. As you can imagine, I was not happy when I learned I had to report to the courthouse in Troy by 9 am this morning. I knew Clara would be fine, I knew everything would somehow work out, but I still had knots in my stomach all night dreading leaving my baby girl, not knowing how long I would be gone.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but  it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. ~Proverbs 19:21

I left at 7:45 this morning, leaving Clara in the very capable hands of our friend Lauren, one of Clara's favorite people. After navigating Troy traffic and confusing one-way streets and parking restrictions, I made it to the courthouse about 8:40, got through security and sat down to start waiting. A little after 9 we started the sign-in process. Over an hour later we had all been signed in for quite some time and were still waiting for the judge. At 10:20 the Commissioner of Jurors called his office and found out he was still in conference with the attorneys for the case that was to be tried today. She gave us a 15 minute break, during which I texted Lauren to let her know we were still waiting and see how things were going. She wrote back that all was going well and said, "Praying that the judge will show up soon and send you home!"

The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. ~Proverbs 16:1

Fifteen minutes later, the judge entered the room and said, "I have some good news. Fifteen minutes ago the defendant in this case finally agreed to a plea bargain. You are all done and are free to go home." He went on to explain that this defendant has been particularly tough to work with, determined to "do his own thing." They have been negotiating with him for almost a year. He is a cocaine dealer who has been in and out of jail several times. I don't know what the "plans of his heart" were, but as close as I can figure, about the time my friend Lauren started praying, the Lord put a different answer on his tongue than the one that has been there for the past year. Truly,

The [cocaine dealer]’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. ~Proverbs 21:1

 

I came home rejoicing because I serve a good, good God who saw fit to reach down and pour a little extra grace into my life this morning. I expected Clara and Lauren to have a wonderful time together, and they did. But I never expected to receive a little love letter from my Father God at jury duty. I'm not sure why I was so surprised. Jesus told us to expect this very thing!

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! ~Matthew 7:11