Rejoice In This Day?

Have you ever had one of "those" days when you just "know" it will be bad? Let me tell you how a day of mine was last week......

I wake up to feed Elijah around 6:00am. After changing his diaper and putting him back to bed I began my daily time with my God in prayer. I was not feeling well but decided to persevere and spend time with Him instead of going back to sleep. About 30 minutes later around 6:45 am the girls wake up and then here comes "E" around 6:50am. For my children...this is early. They don't usually get up until 7:15-7:30. So for them, getting up early is a big deal.

"Great" I think to myself murmuring inside. " they are going to be cranky all day, fussing and fighting with one another, complaining in that whiny voice I can't stand and disobeying me each chance they get." I say a quick prayer to God for a "gentle spirit and soft tone of voice inspite of their attitudes."

I get up and thus began my morning......

As soon as daddy walks out the door for work "E" starts the disobedience. I tell him to go to my room for discipline. He starts to yell, "I want Daddy! I want Daddy!" as he is crying and now has managed to wake Elijah up again. In my frusteration and sin I reply," Fine! You want Daddy? I will go get him!!!" And off I went to stop AJ and call him in to discipline "E".

As AJ is in the back with "E" the girls get in a squabble over something minor. I remind them in a harsh voice, "We NEED to be loving to each other! This is what God wants!!! Not for us to be easily aggravated over LITTLE things!!!" At this moment I look onto the ground to see the long piece of yarn stretched across the room I placed their the week before, I am immediately convicted.

AJ finishes talking with "E" and as he walks out the door he gives me a soft sweet smile and reminds me in a gentle way, " Remember Christine, God has given you this day. He has preordained it this way for a reason." My heart is softened at the reminder. Until.....

I shut the door and Elijah has managed to get the box of cereal and poured the rest of the box on the ground and is spreading it. I clean it up putting it back in the box... off of my dirty floor which has not been mopped in 2 weeks because a child decided to drag my mop through the mud for fun and leave it behind a car without us noticing it and I run over the mop and ruin it... So I bring our dirty cheerios over to the table and tell the kids, "we don't have much, you get two small bowls each." This is not a lot for them as they can eat a box in one sitting...yes, my thin little ones can do this!

Off to the fridge I go to open the door and find we have enough milk for about one bowl... Sigh...we each have our TINY amount of milk and toast with peanut butter along with the cereal.

As we are eating one of the children decides they don't want anyone to look at them which upsets the others and starts bickering back and forth. I could have easily became angry at them BUT...

God in His wonderful way placed the song in my heart..."Rejoice in the Lord always again I say rejoice" clap, clap. ""Rejoice in the Lord always again I say rejoice..." instead of getting upset with the children joy filled my soul. God's strength took over my flesh and I began to smile and sing the song to the children. We all sang it and guess what happened? All of our hearts went from murmuring to joy.
I thank God for HIS strength and joy and ask Him to keep this fresh in my heart and in the children's.

Remember me saying I felt sick. Well, I was quickly getting worse and had to go lay back down in bed. I sent the kids to do their morning chores and put Elijah back down for his morning nap.

About 5 minutes after getting in bed, the kids come in and ask if I need anything. I assure them I am fine. "E" insists I need to have a drink of water and runs off to bring me back 2 glasses, one with ice, one without. Katie Faith says, "if someone is sick they need a fever damoniter thing ( thermometer)" and runs off to find one for me. Kaylyn says she will "watch the kids" for me and "get Elijah if he cries or the phone if it rings." I thank them for their kindness and compassion.

About 30 minutes later I go into Kaylyn's room and lay on the bed. They are supposed to be in there cleaning but are easily distracted by things. So I give them each things too pick up. In the midst of this. "E" asks his sisters if they want to sing songs to me to help me feel better. They choose a few and began. Their notes are off tune, they mess up on some words, they were loud, but they were the most beautiful notes and words to my ears. To know they were singing because they love me brought warmth to my heart.

God convicted me that day. As I got up in the morning it was ME who was murmuring most in my heart, it was ME who was not being loving with my tone of voice, it was ME who determined I WAS going to have a bad day. I sat my children down and told them I was wrong for my attitude earlier and I had sinned against them and God. I asked for their forgiveness. I repented to God.

Inspite of my raunchy attitude and sinful heart, God chose to bless me. Remember that piece of yarn on the floor? That is there to represent "longsuffering." In our morning devotions we are discussing CHARITY ( Love). The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13 " Charity sufferth long" so we placed a yarn to remind us to be long suffering with one another. When we are not, we walk on the yarn and pray for God to help us and remind ourselves how He is patient with us so we need to be patient with others......Gos is so patient with me. I sin against Him all the time and yet He forgives me and still loves me. How much more should I be patient with my children and others!

God blessed me with joy. Even though I was complaining in my heart and was aggravated. In His Word it says "Rejoice In the Lord ALWAYS"...not sometimes, not only when everyone is getting along, not only when the day is moving along like I want it to, BUT ALWAYS!!! This means when there is no milk for breakfast, when kids are fighting, there is a big mess on the floor, or maybe you have a co-worker who just annoys to no end, or a traffic jam on the interstate, flat tire, the fridge stops working, you just find out you have to be on a special diet after having blood tests done, a child of yours decides to poo-poo on the ground and the sibling goes and steps in it(Hi to my mommy friend who this happened to today!)......whatever the circumstance...rejoice!


This is the day that the Lord has made! Preordained the way HE wants it...maybe to teach you patience, maybe to to give you rest in the midst of a busy week so everything goes just like we want it to for that day, or to grow you in an area you have been praying God would help you in ( mine would be meekness), whatever the day is like, Yes...WE must rejoice in it.

Are you rejoicing today?