kicking and screaming

FROM "A LESSON LEARNED"
This summer, we traveled with Brandon's parents to the Mississippi coast to meet up with more of Brandon's family who own a beach house almost right on the water! I was so excited for the trip...not only because I haven't been to the beach in a few years or because I couldn't wait to see my kids faces when they saw the beach for the first time but also because, as a stay at home mom, I was pumped to get out of the house for a few days and break the mundane routine that is my day to day life. Someone else was doing the cooking, the cleaning and I would have help with my kids! YIPEEEE! The beach trip was everything that I had hoped it would be! We built sand castles, collected tons of sea shells, hunted crabs in the moonlight and, of course, buried Brandon in the sand! When it was time to leave, I was sad to say good-bye to the beach! I knew I wold soon miss the cool breezes coming off of the water first thing in the morning, the sound of the waves as I watched my kids dig and draw pictures in the sand and the quietness of the beach house with no internet and no TV! What a get-a-way! On our last day in Mississippi, we faced a daunting 13 hour drive to get back to Oklahoma and that was something I certainly WAS NOT looking forward to. Ugh! We strapped the kids in the car before day break, loaded up all of our luggage and, of course, our beach finds and souvineers and began the long journey home. Within the first hour everything went pretty well. The boys watched movies and snacked while I read a magazine and others grabbed an early nap. The car was at peace...for the moment! A few hours in, however, we ALL began to get restless. The boys were a bit whiny and demanding (so was I if I'm being completely honest!), we had to take a potty break nearly every 45 minutes, everyone was getting hungry at different times and it just didn't seem like we were making any progress. As the hours ticked by slowly minute by minute we eventually saw the state lines between Mississippi and Oklahoma begin to pass outside our window and glimmers of hope began to come back to us. Over the 13+ hour drive home we had many ups and downs. From Maddox peeking into the stalls of people next to us at truck stops to fights over which movie we would play in the car, conflicts over how long it was taking us to get home and everything inbetween...I'd say that, yes, the beach was well worth it, but a 13 hour drive in a cram-packed mini van with four adults and two toddlers will NEVER be easy!
Lesson Learned? Somewhere along those 13 hours home, when the kids were quiet and everyone else was occupied with their own things, I put in my MP3 Player buds and turned on some praise and worship music. I closed my eyes for a bit and then opened them to watch the world go by outside my window. As I listened to the soft music and saw road signs, farm animals and homes whiz by me at 75MPH something pricked my heart. I have been dealing with some stuff personally that is out of my control. Situations with other people and just circumstances in my life that no matter what I physically try to do about them nothing is going to change. I have had many a break down over these "issues" and through it all I have felt like the Lord is saying "pray, pray pray". I brought this up to my husband one night and he confirmed what God was telling me. I however whined and blurted out "but I feel that by praying I'm doing nothing at all". Well, in that rare quiet moment in the car, the Lord showed me that prayer is quite the opposite of "doing nothing". Driving, especially driving a long way, is alot like praying. When driving, you are stuck inside a vehicle and you are totally at the cars and driver's mercy. The driver is going to go a certain speed and I can't make him go any faster or slower, for that matter. The car too is an unpredictable variable. If the van would have gotten a flat tire or overheated on that drive home then obviously we could not have kept driving. We wold have had to stop and fix the broken parts on the van and then continue on home. Sure, it would have slowed us down and delayed our arrival but we still would have made it. Prayer is the same way. We may feel like all we're doing is just sitting and speaking words into thin air but actually we are moving down the highway at 75 miles per hour towards our destination...towards our answered prayer! If I had gotten out of the van and ran down the highway it would have actually slowed me down! Just because I would have been tired from trying to solve the problem myself wouldn't have meant I had made it home any faster...in fact, just the opposite. Only by giving up to the speed and power of our trusty mini van did I see my home in Oklahoma within 13 hours. In fact, I would still be walking if I had tried to travel that journey on my own!! HA!! The same is true with Christ. Only when we give up to his power and just "go along for the ride" in prayer will we see answers in His timing! We cannot do it on our own! We have to rely on the driver (Christ) and the vehicle (prayer) to get us through the best of times and the worst of times. If your vehicle breaks down you have to fix it...if your prayer life breaks down you have to fix it! It's the only way! Beleive me...I am still greatly learning this lesson. I am a get-it-done kind of girl! I can make out a to-do list complete with agenda, schedule and job duty list for an entire event in mere minutes! My craft is organizing! I could live it and breathe it if someone let me! However, this very skill can trip me up sometimes. It's SO hard to just let go and let God, as the old saying goes, but it's what has to be done. I truly beleive that sometimes God uses us to complete tasks and sometimes he forces us to do nothing so HE can complete the tasks. Sometimes, our part can only be completed through prayer! Not only does this prove God's power to us and those around us but it also reminds us that this life isn't about us! What? Yep, that's right! It's not about us! Are you struggling with giving up? I heard a great analogy once that compared our christian walk with drowning. If someone is drowning and they are flailing about swinging their arms and kicking their legs it only causes them to drown faster and keeps the lifeguard from being able to save them. The lifeguard themselves would have a greater chance of being taken down with the drown victim if they tried to approach the swimmer while they are "freaking out". When the swimmer, however, simply "gives up" and allows their body to go limp (doing the very thing they think will cause them to drown) they are actually allowing themselves to be rescued! Only after a drown victim either passes out or gives up can a lifegaurd approach them to save their life! Prayer is much like this as well. If we try to solve every issue and reach every destination on our own and using our own human power we are only drowning ourselves and possibly those around us...but the moment we give up and allow the water and God to take control then and only then are we truly saving our own lives and making progress on the situation we are going through. God is screaming at us...just as a lifeguard would...GIVE UP! LET ME SAVE YOU! Will you listen?