Life is stressful, isn’t it?
And it seems like bad things come in waves. At times it can
feel like an avalanche of problems that bury our joy and our faith.
I had been experiencing one of those avalanches in my life
not long ago. My husband had been hurt on the job and had not worked for almost
3 months. The company was trying to get out of paying, the bills were mounting
up and to top it off our 6 year old was going through a defiant, back talking
stage so we seemed to be constantly doling out discipline.
My business (Shaklee – I help others looking for ways to
improve their health & save money) was slow and it seemed like I never
had the time to devote to it like I should have.
I could go on and on with a laundry list of issues, but you
get the idea.
So when I saw my son sitting on a chair out back, with his
head down looking totally defeated I knew he needed me for something and
immediately I felt….angry. I didn’t feel like I had anything left to give. I
felt like I just couldn’t handle one more thing going wrong.
But you know what touched my heart?
My six year old little boy had been witnessing all my stress and didn’t want to add to it. When I asked him what was wrong, he looked
at the ground and just said, “Nothing”.
When I pressed him about it he sadly said he knew I was
already stressed and he didn’t want to make me any more upset than I already
was.
See, I had been hurriedly working trying to get the wood in for
our wood-burning fireplace which we use to heat our home before the rain came.
I had been harping on him to stop playing and do his chore which was to help
pick up the little pieces that we use as kindling.
He had been doing that when he stopped to pick up a beloved toy
glider plane he just received as a gift from a friend. When he threw it into
the air, the wind took it and it landed in our pool. The problem was, the pool’s
liner had a hole in it and the water had leaked down to only about two feet deep that
now had a layer of ice on it.
I wanted to lose it, to scream at him and tell him all the reasons
why it’s in there for good, but when I saw his brokenness, I just sank to my
knees and felt my heart sink down with them.
I took him in my arms and held him as we both cried. I felt
so depleted, but seeing my young son trying to hide his heartbreak from me made
me feel ashamed for my behavior.
After gently telling him how I didn’t think I would be able
to rescue his toy, he nodded and slowly went inside. I wiped my tears and finished
bringing the wood in as the darkness settled in and the rain began to fall.
That’s when I finally asked God to help me get the toy out
of the pool. Isn’t is it funny how we always seem to wait till we’re desperate
to ask God for help?
I asked, almost hesitantly like I was embarrassed to bother
God with such a trivial request, but it was more than just getting a toy, it
was a way to help heal my son’s heart.
God wasted no time.
He instantly told me to get the big rake - the one I kept
forgetting to put back in the shed. He told me to flip it upside down. I did as
He instructed, reached down and the little toy plane obeyed and flipped easily
into the hollow of the rake, where I could lift it up and out of the dark depth
of the empty pool.
In my astonishment, I barely took time to whisper a prayer of
thanks as I ran into the house to show my son what happened.
Seeing his little face light up and wonder how I did it
lifted the avalanche of problems right off of my spirit.
It also gave me an example to show my son the love of God as
I told him how I had asked God to help me help him. I told him how God gave me
the instructions on just what to do to get the plane out.
Sharing your amazement of God’s love with your child is an
awesome experience. Teaching your child that he can go to God with even the
littlest of things is such a great privilege.
It was a lesson we both needed to learn.
We must remember that
God wants us to come to Him for all we need, even the little things. It gives
Him a chance to show us how much He cares and a chance for us to show Him how
much we trust Him to help us. It also gives us another way to praise God.
It was a lesson I desperately needed to learn myself. It
gave me an opportunity to then go to God for everything I needed, in praise and
thankfulness.
And you know what? It all began to turn around. Funny how that
works, isn’t it?
Julie
