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Do you believe in good/bad luck?

Discussion in 'Other Discussions' started by Gina B, Jan 8, 2011.

  1. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    Things have been most interesting lately! Here's just a few of the things that have happened over the last two weeks.

    1. The toaster went up in sparks.

    2. The microwave went up in smoke.

    3. The bottom of my favorite springform pan got stuck slanted in the bottom of my only (and very expensive) dutch oven, rendering both completely useless.

    3. Child dropped my favorite glass, which shattered. Two days after I shattered what was then my favorite glass.

    4. I had a full bottle of pure, high grade maple syrup, which is something I buy only once every few years as a special treat. It dropped when I was pushing something aside in the fridge and despite it being a very heavy bottle, it shattered all over the floor.

    5. Got a late night craving for nachos, hubby went and got them for me. I opened the lid and they went flying out of my hand and landed on the carpet. Every single one of 'em!

    6. Found some writing assignments so I could work less hours since I've been extra sore, but retore/hurt my shoulder/arm and it's been really hard to sleep, concentrate, or write because of pain. We just had to replace a couple tires and my daughter's sweet 16 is around the corner, so missing out on the extra cash isn't the end of the world, but it is definitely a pain.

    7. Lack of sleep has made things worse. I went to work today, barely made it without falling asleep a few times, came home and JUST fell asleep when the two youngest kids maternal grandmother, who hates me with a passon, called looking for my husband and hung up the phone when I answered. (she always does that if I answer) Always a joy. Right as I fell back asleep, the phone rang and it was the school asking me to pick up one of the kids because she was puking. Which meant that hubby couldn't take her and her brother to go see their maternal grandmother (Friday is the day for that), which I had counted on as a break for myself as they make it about impossible to sleep or work at home while they're here.

    8. Tonight I kept waking up because my arm hurts so bad so I took a double dose of pain meds and fell asleep. Fell asleep around 2:30 am, at 4:30 I woke up to my phone ringing. Some drunk person at a party with the wrong number, now it's too soon for more pain meds but the shoulder is again bad enough that the only tolerable position is sitting up.

    9. The monitor for the security camera went out, the other television we CAN hook it up to is getting ready to go out.

    10. I usually take deep, calming breaths to relax when life gets nutty like this, but doing so is very painful because of those stupid muscles/tendons, and on the flip side I keep getting hiccups from not breathing normal (cuz I can't) and those are insanely painful too.

    11. Took oldest daughter to the store and found out they have a stock pan like the one I needed to replace mine. On clearance. Very nice. But we just ended up buying a whole set of pans because we couldn't find one at a reasonable price and that was cheaper, but the stock pan it came with is way too small to cook in for a family of seven, but we already bought it and I refuse to take it back because nothing's wrong with it and we used it already.

    12. The main company I write for sent out forms for our 1099's. Well, they sent them out to those whose addresses were on file. The deadline was December 31st. I didn't realize I hadn't updated mine until the other day. Now I have to go back to my files, find my records from there, and print it. Except our printer is out of ink and the only computer it hooks up to died.

    13. Three, yes THREE of us are all waiting to get in with the cardiologist because of three different problems acting up lately. Hubby has a mitral valve issue getting worse, I have an enlarged heart giving me trouble, and my one daughter is having circulation issues most likely cause by a birth defect in her heart.

    WHAT IS GOING ON?!

    Most of this stuff is just petty things adding up. Even the heart things shouldn't technically be causing problems, they just are and usually don't get symptomatic.

    I've heard of being tested, but this isn't even really worthy of being called that.

    It's just really annoying stuff that's making me very very crabby.

    I'm amused to a certain point because this is kinda ridiculous to have it all happening at the same time, but on the other hand I AM TIRED!

    Anyone want to trade lives for a short time so I can get some sleep?!
     
  2. padredurand

    padredurand Well-Known Member
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    :godisgood: I am sure we could all enumerate the circumstances and events in our lives that are - shall we say - challenging. Misery is common. It is part of the human condition. A nuance of humanity is to compare one's brand of troubles with another in a sort of macabre competition: my hurt is greater than your hurt. Another nuance is to try to minimize your troubles by saying something less than helpful such as, "Your toasterr burned up? What about the millions that don't have electricity?" Your circumstances are real. They have come into your household and upset it. Alone, many of them are fairly benign and would come and go without much notice. Collectively they carry the weight of the preceding events along with the burden of their own.

    We had a house fire this past summer and without quick action of the fire company I wouldn't be here to type this. We lost most of our things, our home and I finished the week by having my gall bladder removed. I'm not saying this to win the misery competition but to give some background to where the Lord has led me in the aftermath. My circumstances do not determine the goodness of God. His goodness is fixed as testified throughout His Word. If my printer lives or dies is not the determining factor. If I live or die is not the determining factor.

    Psalm 118 is bracketed with these proclamations:

    Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
    Psalms 118:1 NASB​

    Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
    For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
    Psalms 118:29 NASB​

    Between the two statements David enumerates the trials and perils he has experienced. He concludes where he began - God is good regardless of the seemingly endless battery of ills, His lovingkindness is without end and for that we will give thanks.​
     
  3. David Lamb

    David Lamb Active Member

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    I know the sort of situation you mean. Everything seems to go wrong! But I don't believe in luck, good or bad. I find that Romans 8.28 is an encouraging verse at all times, but particularly when things seem to be going wrong:

    And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

    I pray that you may know God's peace in your heart at this trying time.
     
  4. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
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    Gina, you are in pain and haven't been sleeping. This would affect anyone negatively in how they perceive their environment and its circumstances. You are viewing everything through sore muscles and lack of sleep. It's like rose-colored glasses, except in reverse.

    Been there, done that, can remember it, probably will endure it again ..... and so I will pray for you. :flower: :flower:

    David, I don't believe in luck, either, and I learned something a couple of years ago about the Romans 8:28 principle that I have never thought of before. I learned it from an Assembly of God preacher at a funeral.

    I can't remember if I have ever posted this here or not, but here is is.

    I had a former student (a Christian young man) who died about 6 years ago. He was working on his deer stand and fell from a great height and hit his head. When he didn't come home from the woods, his family went looking for him. His grandfather found him - swollen and mishapen head, bleeding profusely, unconscious. The started to airlift him to the nearest trauma center, but he was pronounced dead in the helicopter and they took his body by ambulance to the morgue.

    Where's the good in that? Where's the "working together for good" in that kind of death. In any kind of death of a teenager.

    I asked myself that over and over during the wake and before the funeral.

    I got my answer via the pastor of his church. He preached on that very verse during the funeral.

    He said (and I am quoting him as best that I can remember):



     
  5. Jim1999

    Jim1999 <img src =/Jim1999.jpg>

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    During the war in London, we saw absolute misery for 7 full months of day and night bombing. Through it all, we learned to smile. We saw the misfortune of many, but we also saw the blessings of others.

    Some have asked my why I close each message with "cheers"; a gambling expression to some. It is actually the most common form of greeting in England. No matter how difficult one's life may be, we part company with "cheers". I East London, it was followed by "Keep your pecker up!" which means to keep smiling.

    We could get discouraged by events, but we could also keep smiling as we went along our ways. It is the smiling that keep us going through those terrible years.

    I don't believe in luck either way. I do believe that some of us create our own problems, but we have to blame something or someone, rather than just smiling and getting on with it.

    Cheers,

    Jim
     
  6. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    You guys and gals are so uplifting!

    I'm used to dealing with big issues, which I've learned are always going to work out and I can understand that.

    But what does God want with my toaster? LOL

    And yes, pain is definitely adding to me being crabby. I'm MEAN right now and I keep sleeping/nodding off. For whatever reason, the flexeril is really throwing me for a loop!

    What the pastor said about the death of that child really touched me. It seems that many well-meaning people don't understand that just because God doesn't stop the results of sin and evil in this world, it doesn't make it somehow good in a way we don't understand. The only thing we seem to fail in understanding is how anything good can come from such evil things. With God, anything is possible though. Pretty simple...all things good are of God, all things bad are of Satan.

    We just need reminded sometimes, even when we know it already. Never hurts to have it repeated as needed!
     
  7. padredurand

    padredurand Well-Known Member
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    It's not so much as what He wants with it as what you will do without it. Give us this day our daily bread.... toasted, with a pat of butter and a spoonful of orange marmalade..... :laugh:
     
  8. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    LOL! I taught the kids how to make their toast in a pan, then yesterday we ended up getting a toaster oven with a built in bread toaster on top, which was even cheaper than buying a regular toaster. Go figure!

    I thought I was alone on the orange marmalade deal. Nobody else here seems to like it.
    Lemon curd is awesome too, but goes better on sweeter breads.
     
  9. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    Now the car won't start. It's a 2009, so not too old.

    And today is my daughter's long-awaited appointment with her new cardiologist. Had to cancel and they gave March as a tentative date, but since we cancelled, she's wait-listed, meaning they made her low priority because we cancelled at the last minute. They seem to have interpreted that as us not thinking she really needed to be seen.

    It's starting to get unfunny.
     
  10. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
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    Padre, I always find you to be so profound. :flower:

    I'm not joking around, I really mean it.
     
  11. blackbird

    blackbird Active Member

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    For the Believer to say---"I believe in good and bad luck"---is the same as a new ager clinging to his good vs bad karma

    To the contrary---the believer's life is the Lord Jesus---and whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord's:jesus:
     
  12. sag38

    sag38 Active Member

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    I do when I play Yatzee or UNO. Or sometimes in a football game the ball just doesn't bounce your team's way. However, in real life, God is in control.
     
  13. Jim1999

    Jim1999 <img src =/Jim1999.jpg>

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    Just maybe good and bad luck are just thoughtless expressions and mean the same as good day or bad day. Hard to get too excited either way.

    Cheers,

    Jim
     
  14. glfredrick

    glfredrick New Member

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    Gina, Phelps and company would say that you have been "God-smacked" (their term for the bad things that happen to people).

    I'd say that stuff happens... And it is not luck or lack of luck, more likely some engineer who knew when he or she designed the piece that it had X number of duty cycles before Y part burned through, and you hit that number.
     
  15. Jon-Marc

    Jon-Marc New Member

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    IF I believed in luck, I would say mine is mostly bad. Fortunately, I trust in the ONE Who is in control of my life, and there's no need to trust in luck.
     
  16. billwald

    billwald New Member

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    Luck, miracles, and answers to prayer are the same thing - one's reaction to an improbable or unexpected event.
     
  17. sag38

    sag38 Active Member

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    Is that what you really believe Bill? I know you like to stir the pot with off the wall statements. I really do hope this is the case.
     
  18. blackbird

    blackbird Active Member

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    Then if you think about it

    wouldn't a stroke of luck ACTUALLY be an answer to prayer?? And an answer to prayer be a stroke of luck

    You can't put LUCK and ANSWER TO PRAYER in the same Bible together!!! See what I'm saying???

    To put the two together would be confusious'(spelling) karma!!!
     
  19. Jon-Marc

    Jon-Marc New Member

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    Luck has nothing whatsoever to do with faith in God and His ability to answer prayer.

    A rabbit's foot that is supposed to bring good luck, but it wasn't very lucky for the rabbit. Breaking a mirror is supposed to bring you 7 years of bad luck. Other silly superstitions are (1) Opening an umbrella indoors is bad luck. (2) A black cat crossing your path is bad luck. (3) Hanging a horseshoe over your door with the open end up brings good luck, but hanging it with the open end down brings bad luck.

    The list goes on and on with all kinds of silly things that are supposed to cause good or bad luck. However, when you trust in the Lord, you realize that there is NO such thing as luck--good or bad. I thank God I don't have to put my trust in luck, but I put it in God's very capable hands.
     
  20. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    I think some things could be classified as tests too, rather than answers to prayer or good luck/bad luck.
    Latest...computer apparently went out while I was at work today, meaning my writing work is out the window until it is fixed.

    Some would say this is God saying I shouldn't write for work.
    Others would say this is Satan trying to keep me from working.

    I say either the computer was old and just happened to go out, or...based on so many things going kablam at once, it's a test. Otherwise I HAVE to believe it's just bad luck. With the writing I can expand my testimony so I can't honestly believe it's of God, and since I'm not an MVP in the spiritual realm, Satan can't be that interested in me.

    Whatever the case, stuff happens.

    It's interesting to note how different people deal with things. You get everything from utter panic to complete calm.

    It's also interesting to note what sets different people off.

    For example, a hangnail will end my day while the writing computer just has me slightly annoyed. Yet the computer is the one that affects my family most.

    There's either something really wrong or really right with me.

    Wish I knew which.

    LOL
     
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