Are you there God, it's me Frazzled.

The other night I got to speak at South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas.  It was a beautiful event with good food and sweet fellowship.  After the event a woman came up and gave me a large Ziploc baggie full of candy corn and that was pretty awesome!

While I was there someone asked me how I got started in my speaking ministry.  I hadn’t thought about it in awhile but I like the story …

A few years ago my church, Tallowood Baptist, was having their womens retreat.  They hired a speaker to come from North Carolina.  Then the committee called me and asked if I would do a devotion for Saturday morning.  I said … “sure … what is the topic?".  They told me I could do anything I wanted but that the retreat theme was called “Frazzled Female”.

I then preceded to laugh my head off.

“Why are you laughing”, they asked?

“Well, because … I have to know … was the committee sitting around thinking … frazzled female, frazzled female … and I just so happened to come to mind?!?!”

They assured me that wasn’t the case, but I really don’t think I believe ’em.

And I’m totally o.k. with them thinking of me and frazzled in the same thought.

Because I am frazzled.

I live it.

I embrace it.

(A friend asked me today why I hadn’t blogged about running over Bill’s Camry with the Suburban … again.  I thought I had but when you are “frazzled” …. well, you just never know).

I try to be “together”, but the reality is that I am a wife, I have four children whose interests and activities keep me in the carpool business from 3-8:30 every night of the week.  I teach a college course, Sunday School and anywhere else they’ll let me, I do laundry, cook (or something like that), try to maintain friendships, show up at my children’s schools, sports events, etc. … and you know what … it often leaves me frazzled.

For realz.

And Thursday was no exception.

Bill had been out of town on business the entire week which left me running all carpools.  I accidentally dropped Savannah off an entire hour early for her jazz class, I took Brittany straight from school to the gym and then drove on to Pasadena without removing her backpack with her homework in it.  The result was not pretty.  Imagine a phone call full of tears about her not being able to study for her test - terrible for my uber conscientious child.

I had left for the event later than I wanted meaning I was stuck in Houston rush hour traffic on the way there, when I finely was able to “cruise” a rock hit my windshield, and must now be replaced AND Bill’s flight was delayed meaning I came home to find everyone out of sorts.  WAY out of sorts.  Trust me on this.

But back to the story.

I spoke at the Tallowood event and at the end of the “Frazzled Female” session they announced … “if you would like to buy Darla Baerg’s CD, it is available for $5 at the back”.

A CD?  ME?  I had a CD?  I was SHOCKED.  I wondered if I could get one for free … (because I love free) … and I wondered what my mom would think.  I had a CD!  Who knew!?

It was very exciting.

Anyway … God took that CD back to Nacogdoches, TX and before long a church there called and asked me to come only instead of 15 minutes they wanted me to speak for 45.  (Ironically Bill was out of town that day too and Savannah was sick ALL NIGHT LONG before the event - and I was frazzled!).

From there I don’t even know how to explain it except to say that God guided things along.  I love every chance I get to share the things He has taught me.  And I really love that most of the time we get to have some laughs too.  (Have I mentioned how much I love to laugh?!  I’m listing it as one of my hobbies now.  So much better than scrapbooking!)

And after I spoke Thursday night … frazzled and all … a lady came up and asked if she could buy 40 of my CD’s.  Said she wanted to hand them out to her friends to encourage them to look at the situations God had them in as “get to’s.  She said she works in a nursing home and has never married or had kids and those people are who she serves.  And she serves them because God has placed her there … at this time to meet their needs.  She said it much more eloquently than that, but you could see the happiness that she derived from serving others.

She was doing what God made her to do.

She was serving others and through serving others she was serving Him.

2 Corinthians 9:12 says … This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Isn’t that cool?

So, all that to say … that is how I began speaking.

God took a story about my frazzled, crazy life … and let me tell it.

And when I tell it, people come up and tell me their stories of how God is using them - even if they aren’t frazzled.

I love every single story I hear.

And I wonder … what is your story?

I’d love to hear it … and I’ll even share my candy corn while you tell it.