Song of the Frogs

Song of the Frogs 

Pastor Bill Snell 

When we moved from Colorado to Florida back in 2000, we closed on the purchase of our home before we left the Rocky Mountain state.  Upon our arrival in Florida, we found our in-ground pool was empty and in disrepair – a clear violation of our purchase contract.  Before the contractor finished his long overdue work, the water table rose during the rainy season and the pool “popped”, meaning that the pressure of the water table pushed the concrete pool up from its moorings deep within the earth like a battleship floats on the sea.

Broken concrete, exposed rebar, and a destroyed aluminum screened enclosure was the result.  Tens of thousands of dollars would have to be spent to repair the mess – money I just didn’t have.  For two years we battled the former home owner, as well as the pool contractor before finally getting a basic settlement enough to do the repairs – two years!

During that time we learned to partially disregard the melodic croaking of thousands of frogs directly outside my bedroom having made our ‘pool war zone’ their boudoir.  It was miserable!  Their incessant love songs repeated the same lyrics night, after night, after night, as I tried to go to sleep – “this is never going to be fixed…you made a poor decision buying this house…you got taken, again……….”. You get the idea!

While this struggle was miniscule compared to the loss of health, or a broken heart over a child who rebels, or perhaps the shock of forced unemployment, it nevertheless served to test my faith.  It seemed hopeless that our situation could be corrected without huge financial loss to us.  I found myself praying (most would call this complaining) that God would show His favor toward us in the resolution of this matter.

I know now that God heard our prayer the very first time it was offered, and He worked to our benefit what the “devourer” meant for loss.  The situation was in time corrected, and monies collected were sufficient for the repair, but there wasn’t much along the way to encourage or support our faith and prayer.  Yet, God was found to be trustworthy, once again – in His timing, not mine.

You may need to be reminded in your time of testing,

“Don’t grow weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap if you faint not.” (Gal. 6:9)  No matter what your struggle, God is good, and He loves you.  He can be trusted in your circumstance, no matter what.  So, “be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  (Phil. 4:6-7)