Satan's After ME!!!!!!!

Ever had a day like that??? Well, here is a re-cap of how active he has tried to be in my life today (and it is only 1:58 pm as I sit to write this, so I am sure he has other things in store for me!)

This morning started off wonderfully. Zane kissed me goodbye as he left to go to his state-wide football ref meeting. I was enjoying some quiet snoozing time as Graham played in the living room and Karis slept. I wasn't asleep, but not totally awake. I had a ton of awesome thoughts about some things I could do in my classroom this year, ways I could be a better teacher, things I could do to minister to families of middle school children as an outreach of my faith, ways to share my love for Christ with others around me who I am in contact with day in and day out... just awesome time with God. He uses that quiet time with me... I just don't make enough of it! I glanced at the clock and saw that it was close to time for me to get up, get the kids dressed and we would have enough time to stop at Hardee's for a Sunday morning treat of a biscuit and juice before church. I thanked God for all the blessings in my life (including my cozy bed!) and then pulled myself out of the "dreamy" state. I firmly placed my feet on the floor to begin my joyous day, and from that moment on, Satan was on me.

He started as I got to Karis and she said, "Mommy, can you help me... I wet." (For those who didn' t know, Karis has been potty trained this summer and has had amazing success. She transitioned quickly from pull-ups to real underwear in a matter of two weeks and has been accident free for the past 5 weeks. She has been sleeping in real underwear and often doesn't potty until well into the morning- hours after getting up.) NOT TODAY! I pulled off her wet clothes and went into her room to find a wet bed- a very wet bed. No biggie... accidents happen... we can wash these things and move on with the glorious day God has planned.

We finish getting ready- everyone dressed and out the door in plenty of time to hit Hardee's and make it church on time. After we are out the door, I realize that my pocketbook is in the van... and I hold my breath to see if Zane left the door unlocked after he got the checkbook out this morning to go to his meeting. Of course not... he did the responsible thing and locked it behind him. So my beautiful children are dressed for church and ready for breakfast, standing the driveway waiting to get into a van that is locked. What to do? Well, most people would go back inside, BUT we were locked outside and my keys to the house were.... drumroll please.... yes, you guessed it- in the VAN!!!!

Now, God loves me and he will never give me more than I can handle. He guided me to pick up my cell phone before we left the house- it was the only thing I had. So, I figure no big deal. I'll call Zane and have him run home quickly to unlock it for us. Before the first ring, the call goes into voicemail... his phone is turned off! AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! So, plan B- call Nana. Mom was coming home from the mountains this morning and it was early enough that I thought she might be still on the road and could swing by to at least let us back in the house. Nope.... no answer on Nana's phone. Ok... I then try Zane a few more times and then Nana again and begin to realize that we might be stuck outside for a while. I take a chance and try to call my sister. They live close and even if they have headed to church, it is close as well. Meredith's phone goes into voicemail also, so I try Micah. He answers!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Micah comes to the rescue and attempts to use a coathanger to get our van open. We use a variety of items- including a ninja star from Graham's Transformer toy he was taking for the ride. No luck, so Micah says for us to drop him back by his church and for us to take their van on to church with us. By this time, it is 10:27 and church starts at 10:30. Nothing like being on time!

Ok, so we drop off Micah (who we have decided gets the superhero status for today!) and head toward church. My kids are complaining that they are hungry, as well they should be since they hadn't had breakfast yet. Well, unfortunately, I now have transportation, but no pocketbook with money to buy them anything. I simply say a prayer that Lindsey will understand and feed them once I get to church. We make it to church in time for me to get them ushered in and grab a seat. I let out a sigh and collect myself. I give Satan a little "humph" and a "so there!" as I begin to focus on the message for the day. He did lots of things to end my joy and to keep me from making it to church, but we overcame.

About 5 minutes into Joey's message, my chair makes a funny noise. Those of you from The River will understand my concern. For those of you who haven't visited, we have some chairs who have been less-than-kind to a few other members and dumped them on the floor during parts of the services in the past month or so. The last thing I wanted was to end up on the floor with a loud crash... I think that might have been the straw on the camel's back for me. So I begin to focus on sitting VERY still so as to not disturb the delicate state I think my chair is in. I found myself battling between listening to Joey and focusing on being still (doesn't sound hard- but it was). I finally told Satan to leave me alone and let me listen. I prayed that God would hold that chair together through the rest of the message.

As I listened, I knew that Satan didn't want me there because I needed to hear the things that were said today. We are starting a series called "Overflow" and it is about how we need to let Christ overflow out of us and into the world we live in. Joey used the Gatorade analogy... "Is it in you?" If we drink from the living waters of Christ, we will be filled with him and when we go about life, we will have it oozing out of us and onto others. Just like in the commercials... the athlete drinks in the Gatorade and then as they sweat and play, the color drips out of them. As the start of the school year gets close this is what I need to think about everyday... will my words and actions "drip" with the love of Christ or will I just pass by folks without any effect on them.

I firmly believe that Satan was scared of me this morning when I woke up. I was having an awesome time with God and Satan was afraid to let me continue that. It was a challenge to remember whose I was this morning... I wanted so badly to just throw my hands in the air and say "WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG?!?!?!" (If you've ever felt that way, let me warm you that if you ask, often times you are shown what else can go wrong... and trust me, there is always something else!!) Instead, I kept turning my attention back to God and asking Him for guidance, patience, help, and lots of other things. He gave me those and much more. He sent help in the form of my brother-in-law as we were able to make it to church. He gave me patience to not lose my cool with my kids who were VERY GROUCHY and not-so-understanding of our situation. He held my chair together and kept me from being very embarrassed during the message. He spoke to me through Joey's words and helped me to see some things that I need to do on a daily basis so that I can be overflowing with His love in my life. He had Donny pick one of my favorite praise songs to end the service with so that even though I missed the praise portion of church this morning, I got to sing one of my favorites to show my thanks for all of God's help. God is good... even in the crazy bad times.

So, I post this saga of today to warn you. Satan is out there and he's lookin for a way to keep you from being close to God. I think that the closer you get, the more actively he pays attention to you and focuses on ways to distract you. I find comfort in the fact that I made him nervous today. Am I glad that I had the drama in my life this morning... well, I'd have preferred to have a joyous morning that included breakfast at Hardee's and a pleasant ride to church. BUT, the rebel in me is a little thrilled that I managed to go a round with the little red guy and come out singing the praises to my God and King!

I hope that you all are having a wonderful day and that you will ask yourself, "What am I doing today to make Satan a little nervous about me?" If he locks you out of your house and van... call me. I'll come get you AND take you to Hardees! : )