"Is that blood raining down from the sky now?" -or- parenting with sanity

My brother sent a text message to me last night: "heard there was an earth quake in Athens [GA]... did y'all feel it... are y'all okay?"
"WHAT???"  was my reply.
I got on Facebook... a friend wrote: "Did I just feel my building shake?  Was that a dream?"
Other statuses: "reports of an earthquake on South Carolina/Georgia stateline..."
My eldest was up with a fever so I already had my hands full worrying about him...
Then rain started pounding down on our roof.  "what's next?  The plagues?  Is that blood raining down from the sky?"  I tried to joke.  But what I had been taught about the End Times as a child came rushing back to my head.  

I stopped before I put one foot down THAT rabbit hole... "O Lord," I prayed out loud, "protect us... take care of us...In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen."  

The Holy Spirit reminded me of the Fruits of the Spirit Song: the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, PEACE, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. This morning, I woke with the song "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" running through my head:  "Turn your eyes upon Jesus... Look full in His wonderful face... and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace..." 

And just to set the record straight, I don't share this with you to boast about anything... With baby 3 on the way, I am having to make sure that I'm straight so that I can parent with intention and sanity.  I do not parent perfect. 

As a child, my dad worked off-shore so my mom, brother and I were left alone a lot.  I remember nights that my mom would take us from our beds to be plopped down in the hallway with a mattress over us because a tornado was barreling by.  I know now that she was scared, but in those moments, she parented with such sanity... She made decisions to protect us ... then sang worship songs to calm us (and now I know, to calm herself).  She remained calm.  

But don't we serve to assure us of His protection! And to provide PEACE to us in the midst of the storms of our lives?  He never promised us an easy ride, but He promised that He would be with us!  

What a wonderful truth to teach our children today!

Simply Sunday

Listen...

I've never been good at math but...

I do like the trend from pious self-righteous Christian, but some of the "hot" Christian bloggers tend to just get down on themselves... I mean, it's pithy and funny and oh, so relate-able... but goodness, I just want to turn away from the battle royale sometimes.  When my hubby and I were first talking, I made some self-depreciating comment and he said, "are you fishin' for a compliment?  Well, I won't take the bait."  LOL... and I think about that with every self-depreciating comment... 

Well, I say all that to say this:  going too far with the self-depreciation gets to a point where... well... couldn't you be kind of telling God what a crappy job He did of creating you?  

I mean, we're a piece of artwork to God...  and if we stop and saw the wonder in each other... well, maybe we'd treat each other nice... and wouldn't that be nice?