Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Riding the Storm Out

My morning quiet time and reading a little while ago produced a few real gems. And it was especially insightful since I had a baaaaaaaad morning with Joel (10). He was diagnosed with a mood disorder this past spring, and it was in high gear this morning. As I was praying for strength and patience in another room while he was ranting in the kitchen, the words, "ride the wave, just ride the wave" came to me. And boy, was it wave after wave in that 45 minutes before he left.

I was literally seeing in my head the scene in "Castaway" where Tom Hanks was leaving the island and he had to overcome huge wave after huge wave to get past the point where they were breaking and get into the open sea and be on his way.

Without going into details, just before Joel left, he was absolutely enraged at something I was telling him he needed to do in his assignment notebook every day at school. I mean enraged. He wanted to do it his way, I was trying to explain to him why he needed to do what I said, etc., and we were going in absolute circles and he was in angry tears.

As his bus pulled away, I was praying for his day and praying for wisdom and guidance in parenting him, and as I prayed, "help me build his confidence ..." I felt like God put those words in my mouth to speak to me, because at that moment I literally heard the words, "You are eroding his confidence by demanding he comply with your request. Give him the chance to prove he can do it his way."

And as I was still floating from this exchange, in my reading my heart was spoken to once again from Psalms 16. Verse 8 says, "I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me." I really needed to hear that, as well.

I am in such awe of God and the way He works this morning.

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