Thursday, April 21, 2011

The one where I show off my short-comings but God still gets the glory...


Buckle up. This is a long one...
So I know I have mentioned close to a million times on my blog that I love my children. And I do. But they almost sent me to the crazy house last week. Not so much my children but my older, getting-too-independent-for-her-own-good child. She is such a sweet child but she has recently learned and is excelling in the art of arguing. Good times. Oh, and the little one isn't totally innocent either. Don't let those big blue eyes and handsome little grin deceive you. He has a bit of a temper and loves to test this tired and sometimes impatient mommy.
All that to say, by Friday I was done. D-O-N-E. Not done parenting. Just done with the whole situation. I could not do it on my own anymore. We were leaving for Camp Merriwood in a couple of hours where Randy would be leading worship for a youth retreat and I didn't know how I was going to handle the kids all weekend...especially since it was supposed to not just rain but have severe storms all day Saturday. I quickly got the kids in bed for their naps so that I could go to my bed and pout about the whole situation. I laid there fretting and decided to get up and do my quiet time for the day. My book I'm doing had me read Isaiah 26:1-12. Verse 3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" WOW! I needed that. That's not even the coolest part of this story.
So I go back to my bed and I lay down and start praying and just giving the whole thing to God. I'm not very good at that. I like to control things. But I could no longer control this. Just kind of randomly the thought popped in my head to ask God to keep the storms away at camp this weekend. I am always so afraid to pray things like that. What if He doesn't. Oh ME of little faith. But I asked God anyway to please keep the storms away this weekend. I didn't want to tell anyone I prayed that because I didn't want to look like a weirdo...and what if the storms did come.
We got to camp Friday evening and things were going great. I didn't get to stay for the whole evening service because the kids had to go to bed but Randy said several kids accepted Christ into their lives. AWESOME! I continued to believe that the storms were not coming but I still didn't tell anyone. Saturday morning we wake up and there were supposed to be light thunder storms in the morning and then the severe ones were to come that afternoon. It was gloomy outside and we had had the occasional sprinkling that morning but no light storms. By this time I had told Randy what I had prayed. At lunch time it rained pretty hard for about ten minutes and I think I heard 2 faint thunder rumbles and then it went away. By about 1:30 or so the sky was clear and the sun was out and the rain was gone. I was so excited. The campers were able to do all of the activities planned and we were able to spend time as a family outside.
I know many peoples lives were devastated by this same storm system in neighboring communities. I don't know why God answered this request for me. I really feel like He placed it on my heart to pray that. But, I can tell you one thing, it most definitely strengthened my faith. I REALLY needed that. It reminded me that if God can calm the physical storms of this earth, why couldn't He calm the storms in my life? And if I can place my trust in Him to not bring on the thunderstorms, I can trust Him to administer peace in my life and in my heart. "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" Thank you, Lord, for calming the storms, all of them.

1 comment:

  1. Love it. I pray for weather things too and have almost gotten to the point when I am shocked if God doesn't answer these prayers. He holds it all in the palm of His hands. Sure would love to see you guys. Kiss Hailey bug and Caleb for me. Love you bunches.

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