Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Behind the scenes...

Have you ever had one of those days? You know, where it just doesn’t start out right, and never gets better. On the surface, yesterday was one of those days. I started out the day by being sick to my stomach for about 2 hours, so I woke up exhausted. Then the kids were cranky with each other and me. But we managed to get through the morning with a minimum of discipline and yelling at each other. Got through lunch, and finally got Marina down for her nap after a short power struggle with her. Once Peter went to bed, I called a friend and asked her to pray for me, because I was at the end of my rope. Then I went to bed. My son woke me up just as I was going to sleep because he had to tell me he had to get up to go potty (keep in mind, he can do this without help now…) then instead of sending him back to his own bed where his obvious playing could wake his sister, I put him in bed with me, with strict instructions that if he didn’t go to sleep, I was leaving the room. No playing, and quick sleeping for him (and me too).

We got up, sat and snuggled on the couch till supper was done. We started eating, and halfway through her meal, Marina started to throw up. Well, after an early bath and early bed for her, Peter and I ate popcorn till she was asleep, then put him to bed. Dave got home, and a half hour later Peter came out to go the bathroom… and told me that he hadn’t slept yet, because every noise was waking him up and he would look out his window. After assuring him that daddy was home, and I was home and we weren’t going anywhere, he went back to bed and slept… (by this time it was 10:30) I journaled a bit and went to bed.

But one of the coolest things about the whole day was how God worked behind the scenes. After a horrible morning, I had called my friend to pray with me/for me. Then I journaled before I took a nap, and in that journal, I asked God to please change my outlook for the rest of the day and to give me the strength to deal with the rest of the day, to give me peace and to help me change my attitude. When I woke up, though I was still tired, I really did have a different attitude, and God helped me deal patiently with the kids, and to take care of Marina without gagging or having an issue with cleaning her up. I even had patience with Peter when he got up while I was getting ready for bed.

When I headed to bed and journaled I realized, as I have again now, that God really had answered my prayer, and He had been working behind the scenes all day to help me get through. I praise Him for His answers to prayer, before I even realize it, or even pray for it. What an amazing God we have. I didn’t even see yesterday from the “behind the scenes” perspective. Before I went to bed, I was still viewing it from an “on the surface” perspective, and was really glad the day was over. Hopefully I will remember this lesson and look for how God is working in my life, behind the scenes.

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