Recently, my 2 year old had a bout with illness. It wasn't anything serious but it seemed so big at the time. We went through a 3-week period where he would be sick to his stomach for 2 days, followed by a cold for 4 days. This pattern went on for 3 weeks. I felt like I was living out my real life "Ground Hog Day". Not to mention, his cold included a cough so he would wake up crying in the middle of the night and from nap time because he was so uncomfortable and just coughing away. I was getting very little sleep and I was so exhausted. But at the end of the three weeks, God taught me something that I want to share with you.
Week 1: My husband and I stressed about the cold. We tried what we could, said it would get better, half-heartedly prayed that it would get better and waited.
Week 2: We became frustrated (from exhaustion from week 1) and took him to the doctor. We spent money on taking him to the doctor and getting all of the recommended medicines. Our poor baby was taking Zyrtek in the morning, Benadryl at night, a probiotic to settle his stomach, saline sprays after bath time, and of course we had the humidifier going. Nothing worked.
Week 3: I had had enough! And I finally got to a point of desperation. I texted a few of my sisters in Christ and asked them to go to the throne on behalf of our son that night. And they did. That night was the best sleep I had gotten in 3 weeks. I also felt God tell me to stop the medications. And so I did. And guess what? Within 2 days, our son was completely 100% healed.
So my learnings became these:
1. I wasted a lot of time, energy, stress, and money when I could have just gone to the Father with a seeking heart and asked Him to heal our son.
2. It took 3 weeks for me to finally get vulnerable enough to ask for the saints around me to pray for my situation.
3. I finally quieted my spirit long enough to hear God speak.
Yes, this is just an example of my son being ill but we can apply this to our life in so many ways, can't we? How many times do we think we know more than God? Let's be honest. So many times we think we have the answer. We try to be in control of the situation knowing full well that it's out of our control. We try to make a problem go away doing everything that we can think of EXCEPT going to God with it. We waste time, energy, stress and even money at times trying to "fix" whatever the problem is when deep down in our hearts we know that there is only one true Fixer.
I Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
And so many times, ladies, we try to save face by handling the situations on our own, don't we? We put on our make-up and our cute outfits and we walk out of the door and when people say "how are you?" we politely answer "fine", knowing full well that "fine" and "good" are really the last things that we are. We are falling apart on the inside but we continue to smile and say "God bless you" and "I'm too blessed to be stressed" while our hearts are in turmoil. At what point do we get vulnerable enough to ask for help from those who love us and pray for us? At what point are you desperate enough to ask for prayer from others?
James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
And finally, when do we quiet our spirits long enough to hear God speak to us? We're always connected to technology in some way, we always have house stuff to do, kids to take care of, a phone call to make, a meal to cook, a meal to eat. When do we allow God to finally have a voice in our life so that the healing that we so desperately seek can take place? Is God trying to tell you what to do right now so that your situation can be resolved but you're too busy to listen?
Psalm 91:15 "He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in time of trouble, I will deliver him and honor him."
Ladies, as you go about your day and problems arise (as they will), keep in mind these learnings so that you don't have to make the same mistakes I did. Go to God FIRST, ask friends to pray for you, and quiet your soul that you would hear from the Father.
God bless!
No comments :
Post a Comment