Last Week Part 2..The Rest of the Story...

Last week started off really good! Matt and I were still riding on our “retreat high” and everyone was getting back to being healthy. On top of all that I started a new job on Monday. I am now working at a local elementary school as the “Positive Behavior Support” in other words I am the In School Suspension/detention teacher. All in all it was a good week at school.

One thing to note about me is that I am a morning person. I feel the most productive when I get up early, plus it gives me some time alone before the kids start waking up. Last week as I began my job I planned to get up early to run, have coffee/alone time and get ready before the kids got up and I have to say I was successful. I feel so accomplished after last week, I did laundry, I did dishes, made dinner, I was a machine!

So Friday comes along and I am feeling pretty good. I did run out of gas when I got to work, a pretty frequent occurrence with me, but I handled it with ease and Matt wasn’t even annoyed with me. All week at my job I was able to do my Bible Study and read Lisa Bevere’s book “Lioness Arising” (btw I highly recommend). I wasn’t expecting a text from Matt that afternoon, but I got one none the less.

Matt had gone home on Friday afternoon to get the gas can after he picked up Lilah Jane from preschool, to find the back door had been kicked in. Immediately he called the police and waited, and waited and waited for them to arrive. In the meantime I had called someone to come get Lilah Jane, handle picking up my older three and figured out how to get gas in my car (thank you Lindsey) so I could get home.

Our pastor came out and he and Matt went in to make sure no one was in the house, when they got in they found the house was empty of people and also light a few of our more expensive items. Someone had broken into our home and stolen our t.v.’s, guns, and my laptop. Even still as I type this I can’t believe that it happened to us. It is something you hear about on the news but never really think will happen to you or to your home.

I have to say out of everything taken I am really only upset about my laptop which was home to all of our pictures, videos and my writing and journaling. I was a little upset at first with God. Is that o.k. to say? I was, it’s true. Each night we pray with the kids, each one of them prays that Jesus would guard our house and send angels to protect us and the house. So I was a little confused. Then I began to think about what would have happened had someone broken in the week before, Lilah Jane and I would have been home. God did protect us, each one of the people I hold most dear are safe and sound, I know God had his hand in this situation.

Matt and I made an executive decision NOT to tell our kids what had happened. We felt that in the long run it would be better off for them not to know that someone was in our home and stole from us. We found a logical way to explain and we went with it. This situation did however leave me feeling violated. Knowing that someone was in my home, my bedroom no less, was a difficult idea to wrap my brain around, most of Friday I didn’t really know what to think or feel.

Friday night we decided to have a “slumber party” in our room. Matt barely slept at all. I however slept like a baby and woke up feeling completely at peace. I can’t even explain it to you except that I now know what it means to have peace that passes all understanding. Where I should have been afraid I wasn’t, where I should have been angry, I felt no anger, where I should have been anxious and worried I feel only peace.

Phil. 4:7
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

This made me realize that advice I have given for years is actually true! How awesome to know I was giving good advice all along. When our circumstances and situations are a mess and it feels like a storm is all around you, you can have peace. Our lives may not change, but how we handle it and what we choose to focus on can change, peace can come in the midst of a storm.

I laid down with Lilah Jane for a few minutes on Saturday and woke up with a word from the Holy Spirit. Emmanuel, God is with you. I knew God was there with me, along side, protecting us at every turn. If that whisper in my spirit wasn’t enough, God continued to show me His presence this morning.

Lilah Jane has been waking up early with me most days, today was no different. As I was getting her breakfast I saw the most beautiful sunrise, so I picked her up and walked over to the back door to show her the sky. She looked outside for a few minutes and said “Jesus was standing next to you, but he had to go back home”. I asked her where and she said right outside the door. Each of you can take that for whatever you want to take that for, but I believe Lilah Jane saw one of our angels, guarding and protecting our home in the darkness of the night, when the sun was rising and light returning that Angel when back to Heaven.

This situation had taught me a few things, 1) Back up your computer, and 2) God is always there, even when we can’t see him or feel Him, He is protecting us at every turn. When my circumstances and situation look difficult His peace is there as a reminder that He is there with me.

So have peace today, don’t worry, God has got it all under control.

P.S. DON'T TELL MY KIDS!