When It Rains, it FLOODS!

Dear Hot Chocolates, When it rains, it FLOODS! This past weekend was one for the books! I hope that you can find a giggle in my agony. It was Sunday evening and my almost two year old son wasn’t going to sleep at his usual time, 7:30pm. He was so fussy and his tummy felt like a really full water balloon ready to pop. Meanwhile, the night before, my hubbylove and I agreed to start tearing up our kitchen floor and replace it with wood. Goody. So back to Sunday night. Munchkin was yelling at the top of his lungs, Daddy was playing with a noisy power nail gun and I was in the middle. HELP?! A few hours later my mom called and wanted to spend the night,…along with her three other dogs. Ok, we already have two. Earlier that day Munchkin had spilled/pulled out 500 ear cleaners on our bathroom and bedroom floor and all five hundred of ‘em, were still there going into this evening. So now Mom came over, the dogs were going crazy, our dogs were barking, Jax was uncomfortable, the nail gun was singing, and I got the pleasure of trying to shopvac pee from one of our dogs because of nervousness. Did you catch that? I was trying to suck up the golden pond on my bedroom carpet. As I turned on the shopvac, I felt justified. Finally, something was going my way!! Yeah right. The pee just kept coming out of the stinkin’ hose!! What the BLAZES is going on?!! Why won’t this sucker just suck already? I shouted, (and I‘m sure that at this point my mom was sleeping), “HUBBYLOVE”!!!!! He came to my aide and pointed out to me that a sock was sucked into the hose. Gee, I wonder how that happened…Son. Once I got the needle nose pliers I pulled out my “new to me” yellow footies. Sigh. Pumpkin was finally sleeping, the doggies were quiet, my hubbylove was ready to quit working on the floor, and I got my much needed peace. Whew! Have you ever felt overwhelmed and in a hurry? You must know that you’re not alone! Regardless of what stage of life you’re in, I’m positive that you have felt the way I did on Sunday night: stressed out, pooped, smelly, hungry, anxious, and just plain old nutz! I felt like King David when he said “I search for peace; but when I speak of peace, they want war!” Psalm 120:7. You know, I allowed insignificant situations to rule my mind instead of keeping my eyes on the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Jesus standing on the water during a storm, inviting Peter to come out and join him. (Matthew 14:22-33) Talk about a potentially peaceless situation. I can hear Peter saying,” um, Jesus? I know that you invented gravity and all, so I know that you understand that my buoyant rear end won’t float. Do you really expect me to come on out?”. Well, Peter trusted that the person that he saw on the water was Jesus and not a ghost so Peter went to Him, walking on the water. However, as he continued in his walk he may have thought, “Gosh, I have to go fishing to pay the bills, I really need to put in an order for unleavened bread, and I’d better write to Paul and Silas to see if they’re still in jail…”, you get the picture. His mind went elsewhere, he took his eyes off of Jesus, and just when he thought he was doing well, he started to sink. How is your “walk on the water” journey going? Are you getting caught up in the moment like I did? Do you find yourself floundering like Peter? The Word says in Romans 8:6 “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” I also want to draw your attention to Ephesians 6:13-17, especially verse 15. What woman doesn’t like a great pair of shoes? Verse 15 says: “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared”. Let’s dig into the Word so that we can allow the Prince of Peace to affect how we think. That way, when the storm starts raging we won’t get so caught up in the flood. Meditate on Ephesians 6:15 “For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.“ In Him, Dede