In my last post I told the story of our trip to Chicago. The trip where my 3 kids and I ended up having an experience that was not what we were expecting. However I do see God’s hand prints all over it. And I’m grateful for that. I’d much rather be in gratitude than bitter and angry- which would be easy to indulge in. So not only can I see God’s will prevailing, I can see where I had lots of opportunities to grow and stretch.
1. I can be a grown up! I made decisions and took care of my children. This is a huge step for me as I usually don’t make a decision and by putting it off I have no choice left.
2. I can face people and speak my truth when I know it’s not what the other person wants to hear. I have courage!
3. I can ask for help. It was surprisingly easy. I just needed to be vulnerable and lose my pride.
4. Prayer is ALWAYS helpful. I did a lot of praying on this trip. A friend of mine even prayed with me on the phone. That was awesome!
5. God works all things together for good for all involved. *see my last post
6. Sometimes it takes God a while to answer prayers. Of course time is a relative thing especially to God. But I usually like the answer now or yesterday.
7. Sometimes all you can do is the next right thing. Give your problem to God and then go on with your day. We can’t stop living while we are waiting.
8. I can wait on the Lord even though it might leave you in uncertainty. Yes, I can wait and it was stressful but it didn’t kill me.
9. I am flexible. I can adapt to CHANGE! Who knew?!
10. I can be a leader and be an example of faith. For my kid’s sake, I had to “act as if” I had faith and be positive that things were going to work out.
11. I can ask for what I need even if it’s uncomfortable. Pushing through the discomfort, I had to ask pointed, straight forward questions.
12. Pretending I have courage actually gives me courage. Amazing how this works.
13. Trusting my kids with God is good for me AND for the kids. The kids see that I believe God is protecting them and therefore hopefully they believe it. I get to see that God is protecting my kids and therefore I believe it more.
I could list so much more. I could also list some areas where I could have been different. I let the stress get to me sometimes and acted inappropriately. I had my times of unbelief and fear. I could have taken care of myself more. I’m going to forgive myself as God already has. I am so grateful, yes I said grateful, to have had this experience and learned these lessons. God is good!
Mark 9:23-24 New King James Version (NKJV)
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
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