Momma's Ill-ness

My girls are social butterflies, just like their momma. But you know what? Momma is tired and she doesn't feel like flitting around today. After a marvelous She Speaks conference, I entered the valley with NT's mysterious illness. Then my younger daughter had me running all over town and neighboring towns this weekend with "school's finally out" activities (year round school you know). There was the skate party on Friday followed by a sleepover for three friends, which was supposed to be two friends. But we won't go there today! Then Saturday was the moving away party for one of two friends that are moving to Texas. Oh did I mention that NT had her best friend sleepover on Saturday? We've had children that don't belong to us in our house every day since last Monday. Did I mention that momma is tired?

Why am I telling you this? Because God has shown me something about myself through this situation. I get cranky and ill when I am tired. Not ill as in tossing my cookies, but ill as in my attitude would make you ill. Do you want to know something? My attitude today made me ill as well. I snapped at my girls and my poor husband. I rolled my eyes and sighed and growled. Hmmmm. I don't think this is how God intended for me to act today or any day.

"It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. " James 3:5-6 The Message

Yeah, that verse certainly makes me think long and hard about my "ill-ness". It's not something I am proud of. I mean, I'm supposed to be Christian. I am "blessed" remember. How could I act this way? I can act this way because God is not finished with me yet. That's a good thing because if He was done, I'd be disappointed. I've come a long way but there's still a long way to go. I praise Him for the work He's already done in me. I get tickled thinking about what He still has planned. I know it won't always be an easy road but I'm excited nevertheless.

Another thing I realize is that Luann was right. In her class on Preparing for the Battlefield Through Prayer last Saturday, she told us that we were on the mountaintop. Boy what a fabulous mountain it was! She then informed us that after we left, we'd be going to the valley and our enemy, Satan, would be there to meet us. She told us we needed to get prayed up and keep praying through the valley.

I prayed at the conference. I prayed when I got home. I prayed all last week. Today I even prayed. But I did not pray when I felt myself starting to get snippy. And the enemy got a small victory. Today, he won't get another. And because the Holy Spirit pointed out to me that I need an extra measure of prayer when I'm tired, I have a better chance of preventing him from getting a victory in this area again.

I love this about God. Even when we fail, He is there to teach us, love us, pick us up and put us back on the narrow road. Let's remember His lessons and put them to good use. They bless us and honor Him. Right now I'm going to go put a previous lesson to good use. I have three people from which I need to seek forgiveness for throwing up my bad attitude on them. I pray they are as merciful as the Lord.