Shelly and Dan
Madeline
Davis
Hannah
Joseph
The Baby

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Get Over Yourself

I (Shelly) spent a lot of time lying awake last night. My baby, who is normally a great sleeper, started crying around 2:30am. She promptly put her little self right back to sleep but her cry had jolted me wide awake and I found myself lying in bed having the following conversation with the Lord...

Me: "Lord, please help me go back to sleep." 5 minutes go by. "Lord, please." 30 minutes go by. "Lord, PLEASE!!!" I have to get back to sleep. I will be exhausted tomorrow. My husband is in Uganda for crying out loud and I have two young children and a baby to take care of alone. Furthermore, I have all kinds of stuff to do tomorrow... I have to take my 4 year old to gymnastics, I have to drive afternoon carpool for Madeline, I even need to give Davis a couple of breathing treatments because he sounds congested. With all of these overwhelming tasks on my plate Lord, could you please, please help me out here??"

Lord: "Shelly, let me ask you a few questions...  First, are you comfortable right now?"
Me: "I guess so. I wish I wasn't awake at 3:15am but I am laying on a $5000 tempurpedic mattress and covered by some cozy sheets and blankets."

Lord: "You said you have a lot to do tomorrow. How much of it did I ordain? Did I specifically call you to sign your 4 year old up for a gymnastics class?

Me: "Well, no I don't think you specifically spoke to me about gymnastics but shouldn't my children be involved in various activities? They need them for athletic and social development purposes. Everyone I know has their children in activities.

Lord: "Does tomorrow's very important to-do list include digging through the garbage in order to find something to sell so your children can eat?" Do you need to spend a good chunk of your day fetching clean water for the family?


Me: "Of course I won't go digging through the garbage tomorrow... if there's nothing in the fridge we want to eat, we'll just hop in the old Volvo and buy some more food at the store. Fetching water? From where, the filtered water disposal on my sink?

Lord: "Tell me about these breathing treatments you might have to give to Davis. Is this something serious? Something he might die from? Do you  have everything you need to take care of him?"

Me: "We do own a nebulizer and have a cabinet stocked with medicine but it's all such a hassle. As I mentioned, I'm very busy right now and giving Davis breathing treatments takes another 10 minutes or so out of my day every few hours. It's annoying."

Lord: "Shelly, I love you enough to tell you the truth. You need to get over yourself. You need to remember why you are alone this week and who your husband is serving. You need to think about the children in Mukisa who are "sleeping" on filthy foam pads, not mattresses. Think about the many women around the world who have real "to do" lists for tomorrow and no means by which to do them. Think about how blessed you are to have instant access to medical treatment for Davis... you are so very spoiled that a sick child is just an inconvenience."

Me: "Thank you Lord for the perspective. May I never, ever lose it... and may I always use the many blessings at my disposal to serve those less fortunate than me."

12 comments:

James 1:27 Family said...

Right there with you, sweet sister.

Love you like crazy!
Amy

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed your post! It is sooo important to have perspective! Praying for the team in Uganda.

Mandi said...

Another great reminder of God's perspective on our spoiled American life, and all that He is calling us to. My heart longs to never forget as well. Love from your sista, Mandi (Cartersville, GA)

Unknown said...

I love you so much Honey

Joshua Goodling said...

Awesome conversation with the Lord there :-). It does kind of put things in perspective when we stop thinking about our self and really "count our blessings".

Tymm said...

For real - that right there - was an awesome blog post.

So true. So so true. Thanks for being so transparent with us!

The Fruitful Family said...

Okay, I agree with EVERYTHING you wrote and had a very similar conversation with God today. However mine sounded more like, "Why did I have to get that speeding ticket? I was doing Kingdom work- taking a deserving family dinner. And I have all 4 kids with me - my nanny doesn't get to my house until noon!" Oh, pride so comes before a fall.

Shelly, thanks girl. You are not alone, you're just honest enough to tell everyone about your struggles.

Oh, and I didn't get teary until I saw Daddy Dan's comment.

And I love you too!

SimplyDarlene said...

Dan & Shelly,

I found you by way of 60 Feet which was by way of a friend heading to Uganda in two days. Please tell me how to get a blog button for 60 Feet...I am sorry if I missed your contact information. You can pop over to my blog and leave it in a comment box or I will come back here and check too.

My tears run hot as I read the posts on 60 Feet...

Unknown said...

If you would like a button or badge for SixtyFeet.org, head on over to http://sixtyfeet.org/how-you-can-help/ where you can find instructions for adding one of two different badges. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this post. The Lord used it to speak to my heart today. As a mother of three children under four and dealing with the piled-up stresses of life, I felt the Lord speaking to me exactly as he spoke to you. Thank you!

Erin said...

I'm new to your blog and REALLY appreciate this post! I'm RIGHT there with you! I hope it's okay that I re-posted your entry on my blog with a link back to yours. In case you're interested, here's my blog: http://allaboarddeals.blogspot.com/2010/05/wake-up-call.html

sara said...

Thank you so much for this post! I can so relate! It isn't about me. yet all too often I think it is. I am new too and I love it! I am going to post some of this....too good.