Beware of the {Joy} Robbers!

I feel like I am pretty joyful in my life. After all, I have a lot to be joyful about. Hey, I woke up this morning - it is a good day! :-) That is pretty much my perspective after what I just went through.
But, I am a mom of four kids - five if your count Jason. (Just kidding - kind of.) So sometimes I just feel like the joyful juice just seems to run out. Anyone with me? Probably not - I am sure I am the ONLY person who goes through this.

Right now I have the "pre-teen". Don't get me wrong - my "pre-teen" is a really good kid. We are so very blessed to have him for a son and I know that my issues with him are really pretty mild compared to what a lot of parents deal with. After all, my husband is a youth pastor so we are aware. I will just leave it at that.

Our issues with Cale are like - stop reading so much. I'm serious. The child would read 24 hours a day if he could and I love the fact that he loves to read so much. But there are other things in life that must happen. Like showers and eating. We do get the occasional "pre-teen" attitude from time-to-time but most of the time he is an excellent kid.

Then I have the 6 year old, the 4 year old, and the 19 month old. That is where things start to get a little busier.... (understatement)

Most of the time things are what they are. We go with the flow. Not life or death obviously. But then there are these moments... I call them the "joy robbers". For example, every time we go to leave our home I feel like there is an invasion of the "joy robbers". I will get Kearyn (19 months) ready to go and go to find the 4 year old. I will look over every square inch of the house to only find him a half an hour later hiding in a cupboard that only a mouse could fit into. (Small exaggeration but you know what I mean.)

Then, I turn around to find the the 19 month old has completely undressed herself - tights, dress, hair bow, and yes, even the diaper from time-to-time, completely gone!

That is when I feel it. My blood pressure goes up a notch. I just want to sit down bury my head in my hands and tell them that mommy doesn't want to play this game anymore... stop hiding in cupboards and keep your close on. Please! And that is only 2 of the 4 children I have.

However, as I have recently felt the "joy robber" invasion I have decided to do things differently. It is basically the equivalent of "stop-drop-and roll" - you know what the firemen told us to do as a kid... Well, mine is STOP - THINK - CHOOSE. (Hey, I have to keep it simple or I will never remember it. Then  my blood pressure would go up another notch for not remembering.)

I stop whatever it is that I am doing in that moment. (Even if it is being curled up in the fetal position and crying in the corner.) I think about what it is happening. Someone is trying to rob my joy in this moment. Then I make a different choice. I choose to see the joy in that moment and I choose to keep my joy. I refuse to let the "joy robbers" steal it from me.

Sometimes I just have to laugh at the moment. Or I find something to be grateful for in that moment - like the fact that my 4 year old son is so creative that he even thought of that cupboard as a hiding place. Or that my daughter is even here with me in this moment at all. When I fill my thoughts and my heart with gratefulness my perspective changes almost instantly. The blood pressure goes down and I can resume whatever it is that I am doing with joy in my heart.

How are the "joy robbers" treating you lately?


The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ~ John 10:10

Choosing God...

This past weekend my husband gave a sermon at church on "holiness" - being set-apart from the world. In his message he made the point that choosing to be "holy" is a choice - one that you have to make each and every day in your actions, your thoughts, and the things that you say. He talked about how he himself has had to make that choice time and again and especially since I was diagnosed with cancer.

There are times when it has been so hard and yet we have kept choosing God. In a time where it would be easy to be angry and question why - we have both made the choice to glorify God to the best of our abilities throughout. Now this isn't easy and there are days that I personally feel like I fail miserably but because of God's grace, love, and mercy you can get up the next day and try to do better.

After the third service a man approached us with tears streaming down his face. He told us that he had just lost his wife to cancer. I could just see this man's pain - yet he was still choosing God. He said that he and his wife were best friends - not just husband and wife - and that they had chose God in their life together. He said now that she was gone that was the only thing that was keeping him going - choosing God.

As quickly as he had approached us he was gone again - like a whisper from God himself - leaving me to my own tears and my husband to his. But his message went deeper than the tears - it was a confirmation to my heart that now when I am weaker than ever, when the mass quantities of medications are taking their toll not only on me physically but mentally and emotionally that it is more critical than ever to keep choosing God. For when I am weak He is my strength.

I feel like I am coming to the end of the pain and suffering that I have had to endure to be well again and yet it is so hard to keep pressing on - but I must. When my thoughts start to turn to selfish ones - I need to refocus on the cross and what Jesus did for me there. When my words aren't as loving as they should be - I need to force myself to speak kindness and love as God is calling me to do. When my actions and attitude aren't the way they should be - I need to adjust them to be more like Christ. This isn't easy to do but it is what I am called to do.

I am called to choose God in all that I do - not just when I feel like it.

Choices

One thing that people continually comment on is my attitude throughout this whole ordeal. For the most part, with exception to the first couple of days, I feel that I have been able to maintain a fairly positive attitude about it all. There is no way I would be able to do this on my own strength. This is truly because of the peace God has so delicately placed on my heart.

In the midst of it all, I have realized several things. First and foremost, as much as we try to battle Him for it from time to time, God is very much in control. He is here in the present and has gone before us in the future. He has it all mapped out and there is no sense in fighting Him for that control. I know that I am in much better hands leaving it up to Him and when I try to do things on my own, I just mess stuff up anyway.

But there is something I do have control over.....my choices. I can choose to have a positive attitude about this instead of filling my heart with anger and resentment. I can choose to fight until God tells me to stop fighting. I can choose to seek God in all that I do today, tomorrow, and each day from here on out. You see, even though He has control, we have free will and that "free will" can either glorify God or not.