.......Monday
"Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. and if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it." 1 Peter 3:15.
He leads me.....through harder days......and when I am about to settle into a pity party, He says.....INSTEAD........worship Christ as Lord of my life. Be ready to explain my hope as a believer. No one has asked today, mostly because I have been trapped at home much of today with a house full of kids who are tired of babysitting each other, or being watched by older siblings. I have no back up daycare when my sitter is on vacation. My mom is out of town and my oldest, most responsible child is serving at a camp this week.....which leaves Isaac and Jeremiah who often do a great job.......but if the 2 little kids are snarky and out of sorts, well, you know. I left twice today. The first time I returned to screaming and some covert facial expressions from Ms. P. The second time I returned, I warned the big kids that if they didn't step up and help, and if the little kids didn't shape up, I would lose my freaking mind and go away to a special place for crazy moms for about 30 days. Then Josiah spilled brown paint off the table onto the carpet. Soon after, I accidentally opened a door, not knowing he was on the other side (because the minute I walked outside, he was searching for me and standing on the other side of the door.....so I jammed the door into his big toe and he screamed for about 20 minutes until he fell asleep in pure exhaustion.
Oh wait. I was explaining about my hope. Sorry.
My hope, as a believer is this. I'm having a crappy day today. Flat out. Undeniably. About 2 hours into it I recognized it as a spiritual attack day, likely because Claire is serving and loving kids who are arriving today from lives that are really, really hard. And will return to those lives on Friday. My hope, as a believer, is that when I feel attacked and kicked around in the spiritual realm, God makes sure I know that it is the devil and not just bad luck, or even a bad day. Intentional mishaps are kinda important. For me, they mean that God's glory is advancing and His Kingdom is growing.....so Holy Spirit shows me what's going on and I can take a deep breath (or 10) and stop and pray and repent for my sucky attitude, my potty mouth, my weakness under stress.....and I can ask the Lord of the Universe to protect me and my house.......and He Does. My hope is that because I also married a Believer in Jesus, I can text him and tell him I am having a bad day and feeling spiritual attack and I can ask him to pray for me. And he will.
I can sit here at 4:00 on a Monday afternoon and be ok with the fact that I only got 2 of my 8 billable hours of work done. The mercy of God reminds me it is only Monday. There is still time to get the other 28 hours done this week. The pool is full of kids today, enjoying the lazy days of the end of Summer. I just sent out a box of popcycles and I am going to finish this post up and turn on some music, light some candles, and pour some wine......and worship and thank Jesus for always, always, always being right by my side. Especially on a Monday.
The devil is a buggar, folks. He really is. He plots to steal and kill and destroy....but Jesus.....Jesus has come to give Life and to have it Abundantly. If you are reading this and your day has started out kinda stinky.....would you join me in a new moment of worship and Hope and a reminder that Christ is Lord of this life.......
He leads me.....through harder days......and when I am about to settle into a pity party, He says.....INSTEAD........worship Christ as Lord of my life. Be ready to explain my hope as a believer. No one has asked today, mostly because I have been trapped at home much of today with a house full of kids who are tired of babysitting each other, or being watched by older siblings. I have no back up daycare when my sitter is on vacation. My mom is out of town and my oldest, most responsible child is serving at a camp this week.....which leaves Isaac and Jeremiah who often do a great job.......but if the 2 little kids are snarky and out of sorts, well, you know. I left twice today. The first time I returned to screaming and some covert facial expressions from Ms. P. The second time I returned, I warned the big kids that if they didn't step up and help, and if the little kids didn't shape up, I would lose my freaking mind and go away to a special place for crazy moms for about 30 days. Then Josiah spilled brown paint off the table onto the carpet. Soon after, I accidentally opened a door, not knowing he was on the other side (because the minute I walked outside, he was searching for me and standing on the other side of the door.....so I jammed the door into his big toe and he screamed for about 20 minutes until he fell asleep in pure exhaustion.
Oh wait. I was explaining about my hope. Sorry.
My hope, as a believer is this. I'm having a crappy day today. Flat out. Undeniably. About 2 hours into it I recognized it as a spiritual attack day, likely because Claire is serving and loving kids who are arriving today from lives that are really, really hard. And will return to those lives on Friday. My hope, as a believer, is that when I feel attacked and kicked around in the spiritual realm, God makes sure I know that it is the devil and not just bad luck, or even a bad day. Intentional mishaps are kinda important. For me, they mean that God's glory is advancing and His Kingdom is growing.....so Holy Spirit shows me what's going on and I can take a deep breath (or 10) and stop and pray and repent for my sucky attitude, my potty mouth, my weakness under stress.....and I can ask the Lord of the Universe to protect me and my house.......and He Does. My hope is that because I also married a Believer in Jesus, I can text him and tell him I am having a bad day and feeling spiritual attack and I can ask him to pray for me. And he will.
I can sit here at 4:00 on a Monday afternoon and be ok with the fact that I only got 2 of my 8 billable hours of work done. The mercy of God reminds me it is only Monday. There is still time to get the other 28 hours done this week. The pool is full of kids today, enjoying the lazy days of the end of Summer. I just sent out a box of popcycles and I am going to finish this post up and turn on some music, light some candles, and pour some wine......and worship and thank Jesus for always, always, always being right by my side. Especially on a Monday.
The devil is a buggar, folks. He really is. He plots to steal and kill and destroy....but Jesus.....Jesus has come to give Life and to have it Abundantly. If you are reading this and your day has started out kinda stinky.....would you join me in a new moment of worship and Hope and a reminder that Christ is Lord of this life.......
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