A portion of patience and grace

At the Rise and Shine Retreat I recently attended Lysa TerKeurst gave a message on God's will for your life using the passage 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. "

I was struck by several of the points she made as she broke down the the three parts.  One of the big takeaways, though, was praying every day for my portion.  Lysa related this to the Israelites receiving their portion of manna in the desert--exactly the amount they needed, nothing more, nothing less.  One of the more well-known verses talking about portions is Psalm 73:26
"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

This has become quite evident to me over the last two weeks.  As Lysa suggested, I have tried to spend some time in prayer at the beginning of each day asking for my portion of patience, grace and energy just for that day.  And the Lord has provided in many ways.  Today was one of the best examples.

We had already had a very busy day and were returning from running errands in Waterloo. This included a big shopping trip to Target that started off with Lincoln & I hanging out in the back of the van while Emily finished a little tantrum and decided she was ready to go inside and cooperate.  Then, for the first time, neither kid rode in/on the cart.  That's quite a parade/circus! ;o)  Lincoln was a bit fussy in the van on the way home.  I only got one bag unloaded before we had to just sit down and cuddle on the couch because he was obviously not feeling well.  After half an hour I thought I better try and see if he would eat anything before going to bed early.  However, as soon as I stood up he started projectile vomiting.  The poor kid even had it coming out of his nose!  Thankfully, it was mostly liquid, and it mostly just got on very washable things like our clothes and the bathroom rug.  After a drink, a quick bath, and clean pajamas, Lincoln was running around just as good as new.

After cleaning up everything else and starting a load of laundry I started on my already late supper.  As soon as I put the chicken chunks in my most-loved skillet pan I knew I was in trouble.  The black non-stick coating had been starting to peel and tonight was the last straw.  Every piece of chicken had black flecks stuck to it.  So the whole thing went into the trash--beloved pan and all.  Thankfully, for some reason I had decided not to cut up all the chicken and still had some left to start over.  So we had a mostly vegetable stir-fry made in the stock pot.  It was late, but it was good.

Just as we were finishing up supper Emily accidentally knocked over her full glass of milk and spilled all over herself, the table, chair and floor.  Surprisingly, I hardly flinched and calmly poured her another glass, which she had to drink before she could go.  Thankfully, she wasn't too upset about being wet.  I was doubly thankful that Austin cleaned up the whole mess, including mopping the whole kitchen floor, during Emily's bath.

I left Emily to get dressed in the bathroom while I checked on things downstairs.  I'm not sure what she was doing up there, but it was quite a loud and raucous affair.  Then I heard a cry for help.  I walked in to discover a large deposit of poop in the middle of the bathtub and smears along the edge where she crawled out.  To borrow one of Lysa's phrases, "Mercy!"  I didn't completely lose it at that point, but I was definitely done.  Thankfully, it was one solid piece.  I made Emily pick up the mess herself with toilet paper and sent her straight to bed in tears (which she got over in less than 5 minutes).

On top of everything, Austin's boss is in town this week, and he had invited her over for supper one night since I haven't ever met her.  I had been really looking forward to this.  Thankfully, she couldn't make it tonight. 

I truly believe that after my little prayer this morning God gave me the exact portion of patience and grace that I needed today to endure all these things without getting upset, yelling or crying.  Does that mean I'm never going to get upset, yell or cry again as long as I pray a prayer?  No way.  But I think it's a great reminder throughout the day to check my attitude and reactions towards life's little messes and to find something to be thankful for in every situation.