The Big Lesson:
Two weeks ago during a typhoon, my laptop suddenly died.
“This is fine.” I thought to myself. “I have been without a laptop before. God will provide. No big deal.”
However, forty-five minutes later I was fighting back panic. What was I going to do – stuck in my house during a typhoon – if I DIDN’T HAVE MY LAPTOP??? How was I going to fill the hours?
“I guess I’ll just go to bed at 8,” I thought sourly to myself.
Cue a big lesson from God: I was addicted to my laptop. If I was awake, it was awake and running next to me, playing music, videos, showing me newsfeeds, Pinterest, whatever. My world existed within the rectangle of its screen.
This, of course, is unacceptable.
I am a child of God! My delight ought to be in Him! I should be able to be content in all circumstances! If I’m stuck inside because of a typhoon I should not fear, because God has given me ample skills and recreational abilities to use and enjoy. Art! Violin! Reading! Cooking! But all those things somehow seemed gray and flavorless because (gasp) my laptop was not working.
So I decided that for my own good I was quite glad that my laptop was broken and I said, “good riddance.” However, another wise voice said, “But Kyla… You actually need your laptop for your job. The lesson here isn’t ‘get rid of your laptop.’ The lesson is ‘learn to use your laptop wisely.’ It is a good tool.”
The Little Gift:
So, off to get it fixed we went. Turns out, the motherboard had konked out. This is a very expensive part of a laptop to replace, and so I would certainly have to spend some time raising support for it. It felt bitter, though, because of my revelation about my laptop addiction. I didn’t want to pay money to recover a problem into my life. I wanted to run into the woods and live off of bark and watercolor paints.
I decided that I would wait until the official diagnosis to let my supporters know about my upcoming need. It would take some fundraising, but what is a $1000 computer part to God? Nothing!
Cue the Little Gift (little because God is big, not because I’m only a little bit thankful. 😀 )
Word came from the computer service store, letting me know that my problem was indeed the motherboard, and it was very expensive to replace, and I was past warranty. However, due to some Apple policy, it was possible that my motherboard could be replaced for free!! Well!
This came to that, and two weeks later my laptop has been returned to me, as good as new, without me even having to ask for financial help at all. I didn’t want to celebrate about it until my laptop was actually in my hands (mostly because typing long blogs on a phone is very, very tedious. Partially because I didn’t want to count my metaphorical chickens before they were hatched) and now here I am, typing happily away, feeling very cared for by God.
What can we take from this?
God provides. He provided me a glimpse at my laptop-addicted soul. He provided two happy laptop-free weeks, and then he provided a free laptop!
God gives and he takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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