Stress gone a little too far

I am in a season of stress, I have been in a season of stress for quite some time now.  Just when it seems to relent, it rears its ugly head again.  Today, however, I believe the scales turned in my favor.  I withstood the storm and won.  

I won’t go into the particulars, but trust me when I tell you I have been getting stress from many angles.  It seems everything from A to Z has been thrown at me.  I am praying, studying the Word, and asking God to show me what I’m supposed to be learning, because quite frankly I’m feeling a little bit slow.  

I was cleaning at a client’s home today and I knew they had recently had a mouse problem and a water leak with structural damage. Both were causing their home to be uncharacteristically disturbed.  The house is beautiful and I have been their housekeeper for over 11 years. I pretty much know what to expect when I go there every two weeks to clean.  Today, however, turned out to be very interesting, it was anything but normal.

I was informed when I got there that an exterminator had been there just yesterday and placed 38 mouse traps in the ceiling tiles on the lower level.  The owner had set many upstairs as well in new places.  I always take my shoes off when I get there and put on a pair of socks.  I did that today,too, and I was told to watch for the new mouse traps.  Having two dogs, a cat and two goats at home and living in old farm house I’m not too afraid of mice, as I have seen a lot of critters over the years, but I’d be aware of the mouse traps.  

Due to the water damage contractors were there for the first time to begin restoration work in the lower level.  The lady of the house took her car and left to do some errands, the man of the house went into the bathroom.  It was then that a Hispanic man from the construction company came up and asked me, “Do you have a rodent problem here?”  I responded, “Why, yes why do you ask?”  “I came up to see what caused the hole in the ceiling, it’s big and something is in there.”  I put my hands out and asked like three feet big, he showed with his hands about eight inches in diameter, “and it’s alive and moving.”  Oh, no!”  I put my shoes on in case I had to make a break for it and I decided there was no way I was going to listen to my podcasts today as I didn’t want that thing to come sneaking up on me.  It seemed like forever until the homeowner came out of the bathroom.  In a panic I told him, and he went down to talk to the contractors.  There were at least four of them.  He came back up and went outside and said, “Where did they go?”  They were gone without a trace.  They had left their trucks and tools but the men had vanished.  

Now, they could have been scared of that “thing” and fled or it could have gotten them.  Did I tell you I’ve been under stress and I may not have been thinking the most clearly?  My mind started to really race now, the men were not outside and not in the basement.  The owner went looking for them.  All I could think of in my mind was to tell the owner if the “thing” comes after you tell “it” you know Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  I mean, what are we dealing with here it swallowed four men, who knows what kind of appetite it has.  Fortunately, I did not make a complete fool out of myself and voice my suspicions, as it turned out the men were in their trucks.  

All right problem one solved, they were still alive but what was in the ceiling?  It turned out that apparently a mouse was caught in a trap but was flailing around in such a way that it “seemed” to be bigger, was making a lot of noise and possibly setting off other traps.  Honestly, I can’t make this stuff up.    

When the owner told me, I laughed so hard.  I needed a good laugh and I had gotten myself so worked up combining everything together.  I thought to myself, you just get a grip because things could be a whole lot worse.  I told the owner I’d been carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders for awhile and this laugh today was the best medicine I could have asked for.  

A couple of interesting things:  I never call Him Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  I mean I will say Jesus or Christ or Jesus Christ but never “of Nazareth,” I guess in my panic I didn’t want  the “thing” to make any mistake and that “it” know His address, too. Too funny.

I find it interesting that the Hispanic man’s timing was when the owner was in the bathroom and that his English was not real good so I could not find out many details. Just enough to give me time to work up into a frenzy; and then they decided to take a break right during the height of my panic.  Oh, God is good!  The pieces had to be timed just so, so I would come to realize that things could be a lot worse. You see I was even thinking it could be a demon in the basement.  

Can you see why I purposely don’t watch horror movies? I don’t need the extra input when I get stressed out.  My husband would say, “Are you sure you have papers that say you are not crazy?”  Yes, I do. But thank God, I know Jesus Christ of Nazareth!