Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Little Things



Isn’t it funny, how the little stresses of life can quickly add up. A few small disturbances (a whiney child, bad traffic, burnt toast, a living room that will not stay clean) throughout the day can suddenly drop the weight of the world onto our shoulders. Of course, sometimes it isn’t just small things that add up. In our household, it has been 4 surgeries in 4 months. I don’t think there has been a week in that 4 month time period that we haven’t had at least one doctor’s appointment. When the big things hit, the little “disturbances” seem to add up even faster.

But what about the blessings? We seem to have no problem letting the stress in life take over, but we have to sit down and “count” our blessing. We often go through our day without even stopping to look at the blessings that are being thrown at us left and right. Sometimes I think I end up dodging the blessings while the stresses are smacking me right in the face.

Tonight, I’ve decided to sit down, push the daily stresses to the side, and bask in the blessings of these past few weeks. First of all, we are so blessed to be surrounded by wonderful friends and our amazing family. After Elyse’s 2nd surgery, our dear church family brought us meals, gift cards, balloons, and special toys for the kids. One friend brought us a bag of dress up clothes for Elyse and she wore many of those sparkly, fancy clothes to her doctor’s appointments. While the doctor’s appointments fall under the “stress” category, that pretty pink princess dress became one of the many small blessing that made those visits a little easier on her. While I was stressing about the details, God knew.

A friend mentioned recently in her blog about how God is the God of details. He is concerned about our every need, even the little ones. I am amazed at the many times I have been able to see God working out the details. A few days before Kris’ hip surgery, I was getting concerned about how we were going to get him up the stairs to our house. My parents were visiting, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to give him the support he needed. That Sunday, a friend from church said to let her know if we needed any help Tuesday. It was her birthday and her husband was taking the day off to spend with her. Because of this, he could help us with Kris if we needed it. The day of the surgery, Kris was in more pain and dizzier than we thought he would be. I called our friends when we left the hospital and they met us at the house. What a blessing! I was stressing about the details and God knew.

Even tonight, I experienced another blessing. The kids and I were at the library getting some books for Kris to read during his recovery time. I started getting stressed as I looked at the clock and realized I only had an hour to get home, fix dinner, get the kids’ bedtime stuff together, and get to choir practice at church. As soon as we walked out of the library, my phone rang. It was another friend who said she was taking dinner to a family from our church who had just had a baby and that she made an extra meal and was bringing it to our house. I was stressing about the details and God knew.

Wouldn’t life be easier if we could skip the stressful parts of our day and just rest in the knowledge that God knows. He knows the little things; he knows the big things. He has worked out the details before we think of them.

“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Matthew 6:25-27

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Day Quiz


Tonight, when I was tucking Kieran into bed, I decided to give him a Mother's Day quiz. Here were his responses:

Mommy: What is my favorite color?
Kieran: Blue and red (his favorite colors)

M: What is my favorite food?
K: Not chicken (Kieran doesn't like chicken). I think it's potatoes.

M: What is my favorite fruit?
K: I think all of them.

M: What is my favorite thing to do?
K: Watching TV and playing (are you seeing a theme??)

M: What is my favorite thing to watch on TV?
K: Scooby Doo

M: What is my favorite animal?
K: The tiger.
M: I do like tigers.
K: Wow, me too!

M: How old am I?
K: I don't know. I think maybe you're 4.
M: Actually, I'm 34.
K: 34? Oh, I thought you were 4.

M: Where is my favorite place to go on vacation?
K: Hotels

M: Who is my best friend?
K: Me...and Elyse...and Daddy.

I am so bless to have a son who knows me so well :)! After our quiz, Kieran told me that he wanted tomorrow to be another Mother's Day so that he could make me a cake with strawberries and a candle on top. He could then sing "Happy Mother's Day to you" (set to the tune of "Happy Birthday) to me. As I was leaving the room, he said, "Mommy, if you need to do anything that you can't do, come get me and I'll help you do it." I couldn't ask for a better Mother's Day present than that!

"Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her." Proverbs 31:28

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Faith in the Wait

Waiting has become a theme in our family for the past few months. We have spent hours (or maybe even days) in waiting rooms. We’ve waited for appointments, phone calls, test results, and healing. We just returned from (hopefully) one of Elyse’s last doctors appointments for her neck. Her incision is finally healed, and we can officially retire the head wrap bandage. We have waited 3 weeks for the incision to heal from the inside out. It has been a long process, and Elyse has been a real trooper. What is the next step, you may ask? Well, now, we wait. We wait and watch her neck to see if she has a recurrences of the infection in her lymph nodes. We wait to see if any more cultures come back giving us a clue to the source of her infection. Most importantly, we wait on God.

Why is waiting so hard? It is hard because we feel out of control, and I do NOT like to be out of control! It is during this time of waiting that Satan fills our head with all the “what if’s” and scary possibilities that could be lurking on the other side of the wait. Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Verse 37 even tells us to wait “patiently” for him! Satan wants us to be anything but patient. He wants us to ask questions like “Why can’t we get an answer NOW? Isn’t God listening to us? Does He really care about my situation?”

So, why does God ask us to wait on Him? He asks us to wait because it is during this time of waiting that we have to make a choice. We either have to choose to put our total trust in Him or we put our trust in ourselves. If we put our trust in ourselves or in other people, then we will continue to feel out of control and stressed out . However, if we choose to put our faith in God, we can rest assured that He is in control. We can have hope instead of stress. If we put our faith in God, then He will use the waiting time to refine us, to strengthen us, and to renew us. Hebrews 10:23 tells us to “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” So, who would be crazy enough to choose stress over hope, chaos over peace, and doubt over faith? I do…almost everyday.

I think it is time to make a different choice. Why wait?