Frustrated

"Ugh, I want the last hour of my life back, " I muttered to Justin as I set my computer on the nightstand and slid further under the covers. I'd just spent the last 60+ minutes trying to find a flight home to California. There was a deal for an astonishing $163 ROUND TRIP, available from now until next February. And can you believe that there was not ONE scenario that worked? I kept thinking I'd found something do-able, only to end up banging my head against a brick wall. Imagine an hour of this:

"Oh--this might work! Wait, no--"

Flights around all holidays sold out.

Proctoring AP exams.

Justin's trip to the Dominican Republic.

Heading up to New England.

Family wedding.

Speaking at Kickoff.

Can't take that much time off from tutoring.

She Speaks Conference.

Our anniversary.

That might work, but a 4-day trip? It'll take longer than that to recover from a flight with both kids!


I was completely and utterly frustrated.


And just kind of heartbroken, too. Anytime I feel like there's a hope to visit home and it doesn't work out, it's tough. Especially with the $163 airfare dangled right in front of me! It SHOULD be able to work out, right?

I was lying in bed, sleepless. It's 4am now and I was running that word "frustrated" through my mind. And while I'm annoyed at this whole flight situation, I am actually quite grateful for some frustrations I've seen played out before me:

The frustration of the wicked.

Those times when I sense the enemy is up to no good, but I see his schemes dissolve before his oh-so-frustrated eyes. Those "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" type moments. Those "No weapon turned against you will prevail" times. Those "He who digs a pit for another falls into it himself" kind of scenarios. Those "Haman hanged on the very gallows he'd built for Mordecai's hanging" moments. It's tough to deal with times of frustration, unless of course it involves seeing the schemer fall! And oh, how I delight in my God who "thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success" (Job 5:12).

He frustrates the ways of the wicked.

Psalm 146:9