Praising God for Insomnia

A few weeks ago, I sat down one morning with only a few moments to myself before I needed to get the kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door. The chaos of my life was weighing on my mind, so I took out a sheet of paper and made a "to-do" list, writing down all the things I wanted to accomplish that day. After emptying my mental list on to the paper, I spent a few minutes with God. The first thing I prayed was:

Lord, I lay my "to-do" list at Your feet today. Add or subtract from it as You choose - by Your Spirit, guide me throughout the day to accomplish Your will in my life.

Now, my "to-do" list had a LOT of tasks on it that I hoped to accomplish that day. Some were obviously more important than others, and some were non-negotiables. Leaving my list with God, I went about my day, making time to accomplish some of the tasks on my list.

About half way through the day, I was getting very cranky and irritable, so I decided that the wise thing to do would be to leave my "to-do" list aside for an hour or so and take a nap with the kids. Three hours later, I woke up less cranky.

That evening, we headed to bed around 9:30pm (which is a little bit earlier than "normal", but not out of the ordinary), and I was surprised to feel as tired as I did, considering the nap I'd taken. So I laid down and attempted to fall asleep, but my brain wouldn't shut off. An hour later, I was back out of bed and online trying to make the most out of my insomnia.

(Did you know that Twitter is actually quite quiet after 12am EST?)

Around 2am, I was starting to feel a bit tired and ready to hit the sack again. I actually made a joke (to myself) about Bejeweled (my time killer of choice) being on God's "to-do" list for me that day. I was getting ready to get off the computer when I noticed that a friend had just gotten on (thanks to Skype alerting me). I thought it odd for her to be on that time of night, so I decided to chat with her to see what was up.

That 2:30am Skype conversation was God-appointed. It was an addition to my "to-do" list that God had allowed me to "complete" due to the addition of the three hour nap earlier in the day. My friend was stressed and overwhelmed by life. She had woken up in the middle of the night because she'd forgotten to complete a task earlier in the day. I was able to pray for her right then, praying for God to grant her peace.

After I prayed for her, I headed to bed doing something I never thought possible... I was praising God for insomnia!

What additions to your "to-do" list do you need to be praising God for? Are there things in your life that seem like they have no value? Is God using the seemingly ordinary for His glory?