Having a Blessed Day!

Today has been such a blessed day. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened except that I haven't had to discipline DearDaughter1 once yet nor have I raised my voice.

Yesterday was a rough day...One where I was really stressed and lost all sort of patience with DearDaughter1 and the poor thing received the brunt of my impatience and frustration.

So, this morning, thanks to DearFriend Trish, whom I was responding to this morning, I continued to think of the treasures that are truly hidden in my heart and the Treasure that should be in it. It's a hard reality being faced with how truly selfish I am, but praise God that by the unfaithful responses I've been having through stress and the ungodly actions I've been making towards DearDaughter1, He brings me to this point of reality so that I face the facts that my Treasure hasn't been on heavenly things, but on earthly things.

Do I really want my children to find a clean house, appointments, and tasks more important over glorifying and enjoying our wondrous and glorious God? No. I want my children to find me glorifying and enjoying God integrated with every part of my life, even the mundane stuff like house cleaning, making appointments, and doing everyday and ordinary tasks. Yet, by grudgingly doing these things, as displayed by my anger and frustration and impatience, I have not been displaying the joy that I should have because God is with me.

As I realized this, I realized just how much I have not depended on God's grace and power to help me.

So, this morning, I thought and considered how it is I should bring all my everyday tasks under God's authority and the only way I could think of was by prayer.

With every task the girls and I have gone through this day, we have just said a short prayer:
"Thank you God for our food. In Jesus' name. Amen."
"Thank you God for this day. Be with us and help us with your strength. In Jesus' name. Amen."
"Thank you God for our toys. Help us to share and enjoy your blessings. In Jesus' name. Amen."
"Thank you God for rest. Help us find rest to be ready to serve you. In Jesus' name. Amen."

Perhaps this sounds a little on the extreme side, but with just a little prayer, my heart, today have turned back to remembering who our Treasure is. The neat thing is that I found DearDaughter1 asking DearDaughter2 to pray while they were in the corner enjoying one another. DearDaughter1 sat in front of DearDaughter2 and she said "Baby, pray...Baby, pray..." So I walked over and showed DearDaughter1 how she ought to help baby put her hands together and just say "Thank you God. Amen." Then, I told DearDaughter1 that once she was done praying she could enjoy the blessings of toys that God gave them.

I cannot express the true joy that I feel in my heart right now. It is truly a peace that I haven't felt in a long time. In the mean time, I've been able to do some laundry and prepare dinner without feeling stressed or angry. I've been trying to remember that I do these things because I love my family, not because it's just another chore on my to do list. Thank you Lord, for this blessed day.

My next desire is to really work on hiding God's Word in my heart so that when my girls wake up, lay down, sit, stand, or walk, I am able to share with them the wonderful story of how God sacrificed His beloved son so that we may become children of God.