Instead of Throwing In the Towel...

At the beginning of a remarkably long day, I was already ready to cancel it for lack of interest. I was exhausted, frustrated and at the end of my rope. It was just too much to even think about answering the phone, checking email or doing anything else that required talking to people.

You know exactly what I'm talking about. You've been there, too.

But the Lord knows exactly what you need and when you need it. He took a day when I was ready to throw in the towel and turned it into something wonderful.

Late in the day, I had the opportunity to speak to a breast cancer survivor. She is just two years out from her diagnosis, which was a complete and total surprise. She had no history in her family, was very healthy and had no reason to suspect that she had cancer.

But she feels the Lord intervened and brought her attention to a lump that was already the size of a quarter. If not for His making her aware of what was happening inside her body, we might not ever have had this conversation.

"It's hard to explain to people how much they worry about things that don't even matter," she told me. "I want to live today with everything I have."

We sat in the conference room together and sobbed our eyes out. She was still so emotionally tender from the experience, and my eyes were being opened as the tears flowed out of them.

When you're ready to throw in the towel, turn to God. He will show you why He has you where you are if you'll just ask Him. He'll change your perspective, touch you in a special way and make your whole day different if you'll just let Him.

Sometimes He calms the storm, and sometimes He calms me.