Abiding Through The Noise

Chaos. That is what it felt like when I got home from a play date last week. I come home and open the front door to get Charlie and Olivia in the house, and our lovely dog, Langston darts out the front door just as a salesman parks his car in front of our house. This was not exactly what I needed, as I had about 10 minutes to get in the house, feed Olivia and put her down for a nap, and pump before the babysitter came so I could leave for lunch.

Now usually when our dog gets out of the house he darts down the street or into the neighbors yard but I was glad to see that he ran to the corner of our yard where I could grab him… I was glad until I realized that he had a huge animal hanging out of his mouth. The salesman has now introduced himself to which I reply my dog is running around all over the place with an animal in his mouth and I don’t know what to do! This salesman, which I am sure thinks I am a whack job at this point, tries to give me advice on how to get the dog. If you can get the dog to come to us, we can get the animal out of his mouth. Now if you know me, I think that is a terrible idea. Me and rodents/wild animals are not friends. I tell him that the dog will not come anywhere near me with that animal in its mouth.

Langston continues to run around as I am pretty frantically trying to figure out how to get him to drop the animal and come to me. Eventually he listens to me and drops the dead animal (which ends up being a mole) before coming to me so I could get him inside. Now the salesman is still there, and it was the perfect chance for him to sell me something since my thoughts were focused on the 3 things I had to do before the babysitter got there. You don’t think that was perfect timing? Me either, but apparently he thought it was perfect timing to get me to sign up for something that I may or may not want. However, I knew that I couldn’t make any decisions so told him I had to talk to my husband. I remember standing in front of the salesman feeling like my head was spinning. I could have very easily made a decision in the whirl wind of that moment, but I knew I had to talk to Mike. Smart move on my part, because it would have cost us probably over $40 a month if I had made a rash decision in a moment of weakness.

and do not give the devil a foothold.
Ephesians 4:27

Have you ever gotten a small crack in your windshield? If that crack isn’t fixed it can easily continue to grow until the glass shatters. The verse above is so important and should not be glossed over. Life can feel pretty chaotic sometimes, and when we give the devil a foothold is can result in us feeling like our lives are like shattered glass. Broken and unable to be put back together.

Moments like these are moments that the devil loves to use to bring us down. He does his best to sneak in when we are weak, to try to get us to stumble and fall. I could tell you story after story of times that I was weak and made terrible decisions. Times when I was broken, and my life was hectic, and I made decisions in the heat of the moment that have lead to years of regret. Words that I have said to Mike, that I immediately regret.

He lets me rest in green meadows;
    he leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
    bringing honor to his name.
Psalm 23 :2-3

There was a time recently that things were a bit crazy. It didn’t seem like anything was working out, and I was really unsure what God was doing, if anything. I knew that I had to have a really difficult conversation that I didn’t know if I wanted to have or not. I prayed and prayed, and prayed some more and got to a point where I felt I just needed to walk away from what was in front of me. So I prayed that God would give me the courage to do what I thought I needed to do while I was letting my emotions rule my decisions. This decision seemed to take months to make, and I prayed that God would give me the words to do what I needed to do. As I was face to face with walking away, God didn’t give me the words to say. He instead stopped me dead in my tracks from doing something that I would have regretted months later. Following His lead on this has been one of the biggest blessings that I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to experience if I hadn’t prayed so much. This experience really reminded me to let Him lead in His wisdom instead of following my emotions.

Life can be crazy, and sometimes a whirl wind. This week has especially busy for me, and my brain has often felt like a hurricane is going through it. So I decided to keep the babysitter I had when my plans for today got cancelled, and take some time to “rest”. I got a sandwich and took a drive to the beach where I am currently enjoying the beautiful day, and the beautiful view. I may even get an ice cream in a bit!

If you are like me, life can be pretty hectic sometimes. Be sure to take time to step out of this crazy beautiful life to rest, because it is when you are resting in Him, and seeking His guidance that you will make decisions that are aligned with His path that is before you.

I leave you with 3 verses to consider when making decisions:

• Proverbs 18:17 “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.”

• Proverbs 11:14 “Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in an abundance of counselors there is victory.”

• Proverbs 2:6 “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.”