At first glance this looks like a picture of my three sweet children. Even at second glance it does. But there is more than meets the eye here. First of all, you will notice that the entire picture is a bit blurry and washed out. Why? Because it was taken in blackness. As I attempted to make breakfast for the family - which is usually toast - the electricity was shut off. And it remained off from about 7:30 am until 12:30 pm on this particular day.
Typically, no electricity means a bit of an adjustment in daily tasks and plans. Today it was the icing on the cake.
You will notice that my children are sitting on a bed sheet on the couch. Why? Because of my poor decorating skills? Not this time. :) Because sweet Annalise has contracted headlice at school and we just discovered it last night. Sarah has not. Yet. So of course, last night I immediately planned that the next day would be full of doing large amounts of laundry in hot water to rid our home of these little pests that have made their home my daughter's head.
Another small detail that further brings clarity to this fuzzy picture is that my girls both have full blown strep throat infections. And Ben is right on their heels.
Even that has been taken into stride, but the straw that almost broke this camel's back is when we went into town to the one sanitary clinic available to us and were at the mercy of the doctor who gave a prescription for tonsillitis but not strep throat. Then a prescription that we discovered Sarah is allergic to and a separate one for Anna that hopefully she won't be allergic to.
When we returned home from visiting the clinic, gathering the medicines and special shampoo, we got everyone settled. The electricity came back on at 12:30 so I quickly started a load of laundry and within five minutes discovered we had no water.
This time though, there was a still small voice that reminded me... "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness..." Let me tell you, I have the weakness part. But I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has the grace part. And that He shares.
8 comments:
What I love about this post is the very end...that you give glory and honor to God in the midst of stressful circumstances. That you recognize and share that God is your strength. Very encouraging!
We'll pray that all settles down quickly and you are an expert cleaner!
How frustrating to have all of that happen at once. You are an amazing woman Jenn. Let us know how everything turns out....I'll be praying!
You never cease to amaze me Jenn! I so desperately wish I could give you a real hug right now. And your kids are so sweet to be smiling when they're feeling so awful. I just adore each and every one of you! Thank you for being so open and sharing your life lessons with us. As thankful as I know you are for what God's teaching you, I'm still praying that tomorrow is an easier day! :)
You are an amazing mom! What a day...morning! You and your pack are in my prayers.
Wow!
It's soo fun hearing more about your day to day stuff! I am home for the weekend right now . . . and I"m supposed to be doing online homework. lol . . .
I love you all so much! Ben is growing soo fast! Anna and Sarah are getting so big too! You post is encouraging and so true. The Lord has such an immeasurable amount of grace to give. He really works all things together for good.
I'm praying for you all. I hope that you are all enjoying what the Lord is doing, though we all know it is often hard to see His hand behind the clouds and rain that sometimes surround us.
I love you all!
David
What an exasperating day..... Thankyou for sharing your ups and downs with us..... I printed out the blog and took it into work...... what a testimony to those at the office as well. we praise God that He is there with you in every aspect of your lives.... We love you all, and wish I could have helped with the cleanup and "combing"....Jenn, you are such an encouragement to others..... thank you again for sharing your strengths and weaknesses with us..... Give Jeff and the munchies our love .... wrap your arms around yourself and squeeze.... we are so blessed to have you as our daughter and son!
I heard a speaker Tuesday night at a Women's ministry gathering. Her key note reminded me of you and this day... she told us that we must take our cupful of sin to the cross every night and dump it out for the Lord. Then we must go back to the cross in the morning with our empty cup and ask that it is filled with grace for the day. For God gives us enough grace for each day if we ask. So true...thank goodness. Love you,
Leah
Hope you are having an awesome day! I tagged you in my latest post!
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