God's protection

I've been feeling far from God lately.  My fault of course, seeing as He is always there!  But He showed me he was still looking out for us the other day.  I've been feeling a bit low.  Seemingly everything is breaking, or kids getting little tiny ailments. Seriously things could be SOOOOO much worse, and I am thankful that they are not.  But sometimes it's the little things that keep on happening that start to add up!  So anyways here is what happened the other day:

I was in the process of making dinner.  I needed something from the back fridge.  I HATE having to go into my laundry room.  I despise it.  I know, I know, I need to overcome that :-)  I just don't like climbing over things or navigating obstacle courses in my own home.  So Flannery happens to be walking by, so I asked her to go back there to get what I needed (milk maybe?).  She brought it out to me and went walking on her way.  She failed to notice that she knocked something over in the laundry room.  That something would happen to be my iron.  Now 99.9% of the time I unplug the iron immediately after I am done with it.  Except this one time the other day!  I did put the dial to "OFF".  Now I don't know about you, but the last I checked there was a particular meaning to the word, "off".  As in whatever may have been 'on' will now not be 'on'!  Apparently that is not the iron manufacturer's definition.  The other day the girls took to making up some sewing projects and needed my help with the ironing.  I kept unplugging it after each time.  But after the sixth  time or so, I must have either forgot or assumed I was going to be right back to use it again for one of the girls.  Either way I didn't unplug it. 

So here I am making dinner, unaware that my iron had fallen into a basket of laundry, and was ON!  I asked Flannery to put back the milk.  And at that moment something spilled and I needed a paper towel to wipe it up.  I had JUST had a roll of paper towels not 15 minutes ago in my possession.  I was looking "everywhere" for them.  I mean on top of the counters, on the floor under the table, etc.  Not to be found.  I was about to ask Flannery to grab another roll since I keep our extras on a shelf right next to the back fridge.  But I thought better of it knowing that this particular child has a hard time with more than two commands (put milk back, close the fridge door, get paper towels on the white shelf).  I brought myself to step back in our very own obstacle course.  And lo and behold I see my iron laying in my laundry pile.  I pick it up to find out that it was getting HOT!  Thankfully I caught it in time.  I unplugged it immediately and then went and got my paper towels. I kid you not that I tore off a towel and went to put the roll on my middle counter and to my surprise I put it right next to the "missing" paper towels!!!  They were right there on my middle counter the whole time and I never "saw" them!!! Granted my counters were less than clean, but still!  Paper towels standing up, do stick out above the 'landscape'. 

I am very grateful that I didn't see those paper towels, because then I would have never gone back in my laundry room.  Or if Isabella had been the one to put the milk back I would have asked her to get them, and she wouldn't have noticed my iron.  Now maybe the worst that would have happened would have been some clothing would have been singed, but it could have turned into a full blown fire.  I am thankful for God's protection.