I know that I’m supposed to go on with Part 2 of Relying on the Promises of God, but I wrote this one instead. Part 2 will be next!

I believe that sometimes we’re meant to go through some challenges in order to help others. This week has been a tough week for myself and my family. Our middle daughter spiked a very high fever on Sunday night and had it all day Monday. We took her to the doctors and found out that she had hand foot and mouth disease. Thank you, kindergarten! We struggled with getting her temperature down, because her mouth and throat were so sore that getting her to swallow anything was difficult. Tuesday night she woke up at 1:30am and puked, and continued to puke every hour until 5am. Mind you, she still was hardly eating or drinking, so nothing was really coming out. Yesterday, Wednesday, she seemed to have gotten over it and was back to normal except saying her mouth was still burning and hurt. I was relieved because I thought we were getting near the end! But then…it happened. Our son spiked a high fever, and we could not break it. My husband ended up taking him in a cold shower to lower his temperature, and then we could get him to take medicine. When that was all done, I looked in his mouth, and sure enough, sores.

I felt defeated. All I wanted was to lay in my bed and cry. Not because I felt sorry for myself, but because I was exhausted. Before hand foot and mouth invaded our home, my son was on antibiotics for a double ear infection, and I was getting over a nasty head/chest cold! I was exhausted from the sickness, from not sleeping well, from being up half the night with our daugher puking, from tryting to maintain our house, from still getting up to make sure our oldest was getting on the bus for school, and just trying to be a good wife.

But I had enough.

So why did I decide to write this instead of my Part 2?

I wanted you to know that you are not alone!

My friends, you are not alone. You are not alone in the feeling of being defeated, in the feeling of just wanting to give up, in the feeling of wanting to run and hide somewhere. Whether you are struggling with sick kids, or something else, your feelings matter and are valid! The Lord never promised us things were going to be easy. He never promised that we would have a perfect life as long as we followed Him.

And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

1 Peter 5:10

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

These verses show me that although we believe in the Lord, and we have our trust in Him, we’re still going to be going through all these trials. But we have the one thing that many nonbelievers have. We have the Lord on our side, and we have His strength to help us!

When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.

Isaiah 43:2

Let go of those negative feelings about yourself!

My friends, the feelings you have about yourself will not help you in the long run. They will not help you get through any of the trials you are facing. In fact, when we think those negative thoughts, we are allowing Satan to have a foothold in our hearts and minds! Satan wants us to lose faith in ourselves and in the Lord. We cannot let him win!

The Lord has placed you in this chapter of life for a reason. He knows you can handle these things, because we have that faith in Him! I struggle with keeping a firm grasp on situations, thinking I can handle them better, or I can take care of it faster than what the Lord can. Every time I think that or do that, I fail.

It’s okay to cry and eat that ice cream!

We are humans, and sometimes we just feel completely overwhelmed by the happenings of life. Sometimes it’s like things just come one after the other, and we never get a break. Just because we have faith in the Lord it doesn’t mean we can’t cry. We can cry. Cry when you are feeling overwhelmed and upset. Cry when you are feeling like you have no other way to express your feelings. If crying was a sin, then I don’t know what I would do. You can ask my husband. I cry over everything. Not because I’m a “cry baby”, but because it’s one way, I can let out my emotions the best. What makes the difference is how we handle ourselves after we cry. Are we going to allow ourselves to continue being sad and feeling bad for ourselves? Or are we going to get up, shake it off, and move on because we know that we have the strength of the Lord to help us?

Also friends, eat that ice cream!! There is nothing better for the soul than some good ice cream!

You’ve got This!

My prayer for you this week is that if you’re going through anything that seems overwhelming, that you will turn to the Lord for the strength to get through it! Pray to Him and ask Him to help you, because He already knows what you’re feeling and what’s happening! He is waiting for you with open arms! Also remember…

You’ve got this!!

Until next time, my friends!