He's Not Going to Win!!

Hey Friends-

It's been forever since I've blogged and I have tons of blogs in my brain, but today I just had to sit down and write about the week I've had.

Monday, I asked some friends to pray for me this week. I knew it would be a stressful week and I knew I needed extra prayers. Today I leave for a Mission Project weekend with 95 preteens, my husband has been out of town all week, and I knew I would be under a lot of pressure. Every year, this week is always tough and I have learned to ask for prayer covering before the battle begins!

"When you are important to God, you become important to Satan." I firmly believe this (and if you haven't read the book "Same Kind of Different As Me" I HIGHLY recommend it..this quote is in the book) As soon as those prayers were offered up, the battle began. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!

Tuesday (the day after I knew that people were fervently praying) I went downtown to one of our minsitry locations to drop off some flyers. When I returned to the car in the middle of a thunderstorm, my car wouldn't start. I am in the middle of downtown in a storm with a three-year-old in the back and a husband out of town. I called AAA, and they came out and checked the car. Not only did I need a jump start, the battery needed replacing. Two hours and $125 later, we pulled away just in time for the bus to arrive home with my other daughters. No other work on the mission trip was able to happen that day.

Wednesday, as I was driving home from picking up S from preschool my car started shifting into overdrive and it felt like I was losing control of the vehicle. I pulled into the car dealership and had them look at the car. After getting S a sprite and bag of M and M's (because everything with her is all about a snack), we sat down to await the verdict. "It's definitely the transmission- could be bad. Why don't you rent a car and we'll keep it a few days, see what's wrong and then you can decide whether or not you want to trade it in." (WHAT??????????) Hubby is still out of town, the bus is coming soon and after-school activities await me. So, after renting a car, transferring all of our "stuff", and putting a $100 deposit plus the cost of the car on my credit card, I again arrive home just in time for the bus to arrive. No other work on the mission trip was able to happen that day either!

Thursday, as I sit in the carpool line waiting to pick up the girls from school to take P to piano, I feel a big bump. The lady behind me in carpool hit my RENTAL car from behind. Are you kidding me???? So we pull to the side after getting our kids and exchange insurance info, etc. WHILE I am out of the car talking to the lady who hit me, S is happily inside coloring with orange crayon all over the seats of the RENTAL car. The plan was to return the car as soon as I dropped P at piano, but instead I spent an hour scrubbing the seats with wet paper towels from a local restaurant bathroom.

I could go on, because there's more. But some of the drama that ensued is not bloggable. Suffice it to say that when you get 95 preteens together you also get 95 phone calls, questions and issues. But that's OK..because God is on His throne.

If you are reading this and you do not believe in spiritual warfare, I encourage you to read what scripture has to say about it. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."- Ephesians 6:12. Satan is real. He is active. He lurks about and he seeks to kill and destroy. If you feel like you are in a spiritual battle and that the more you pray about a situation, the more opposition you feel, then you are more than likely smack dab in the center of God's will. Satan does NOT want God's Word to go forth. He will lie and make us feel defeated every single time. But the condemning voices that we hear in our heads are NOT from God. You know the ones I mean..."you're a bad mother, a bad wife, your life is unorganized and a mess and there is no way you can lead anybody to go anywhere"....and they go on and on. But here's the wonderful TRUTH- "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"- Romans 8:1.

The Bible does not promise this life will be easy. We live in a sinful world. But praise God that He is "able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever."- Ephesians 3:20-21.

My dear friends, service for the Lord is not easy. There will be a zillion roadblocks aong the way. But the blessings this weekend are MINE. God will teach me much more through these precious preteens than I will ever teach them.

So keep praying for us. Satan is NOT going to win!

Even if I did eat two snickers easter eggs and a diet coke for breakfast. I'm just hangin' on however I can!

L