Chicken Pox and Other Fun Things...

Do you want to hear about my week. I guess if you are reading this, you do ;-) The story begins 2 Wednesday's ago... Ava woke up with a large bump on her forehead that looked like a bug bite. I thought it was weird, thoroughly checked her bedding, found nothing, but decided to wash it anyway. We went about our day, Beth Moore, homeschooling, then Life Group at night. The next morning, Ava woke up covered in bumps. The dreaded chicken pox. I couldn't believe my eyes, looking at my sweet little girl with hundreds of bumps covering her tiny body. After calling everyone she had been around in the few days prior to the outbreak, along with doctors, and prayer warriors, I settled in for 7-14 days of being home. With sick kids. No yard. No leaving. After a few hours of panic/annoyance/fear of the situation, I made a game plan with God on how we would handle this. I wasn't super worried about the actual illness, we all had chicken pox when I was little. I was mostly concerned how I would make it through the week without a)screaming at my kids, b) losing my mind, and/or c) completely undoing all of the work I have done in creating discipline and order in my home. I instantly increased the television consumption amount, because, seriously, all I want to do when I am sick is watch tv, and what else would they do. I also made it my goal to go to Target, Henry's, anywhere, in the evening so I could talk to big people and clear my head. Above all, I asked the Lord to give me patience with my children and the situation in general. As the days passed by, I really felt the Lord gave me a super dose of patience. I was even surprised by how patient I was. I also noticed that without a schedule, without a time to be out the door by, without our normal crazy life, I could spend more time holding, loving, reading,--just being--with them. I also think I know why this happened. At the Life Group I went to right before finding out about the pox, I heard a divine whisper from the Lord. We discussed the loving sacrifice God made by sending His son to the world for our sins. My sins. And for me to waste one day of this life is not being thankful for the sacrifice He made. It's wasting the time He gave me to make a difference in this world. My job at this time is being a wife and a mother. My goal in being a mother is to have an undying passion for the Lord that my children witness, and God willing, choose to have themselves. It is showing them with my life, how to serve, how to love, how to worship, how to be a light to a dying world. Not to preach to them, not to tell them with words, but to show with my life. I left that night with a renewed vision of what God put me on Earth for. And the next day my kids have chicken pox. Buzz kill. Or I should say, attempted buzz kill. Nice try Satan, not going to happen. Although I could not completely go full charge with my plan, I have not, and will not, forget my purpose. I will use my life as an example. And just like any human, I will make mistakes, but even then I can show the Lord's forgiveness and mercy to forgive a sinner like me. I cannot depend on teaching them with my words, I need to show them with The Word walked out. Thank you Lord for the bad times, because even in those you show me beauty and teach me things I could have otherwise never learned. Thank you for renewing the vision You have for my life, the vision what will outlive my life alone, but spread down through future generations. You are a loving and powerful God and I an thankful for the ability to serve you.