Philippians 4:13

After two days in a row now of Annabelle only taking an hour long nap, being incredibly clingy, and whiny, and husband being on morning flight line (which means awake by 3:30, so in bed by 8:30), after all of my evening responsibilities were finished, the ONLY thing I wanted to do was go to bed. Of course, that is a possibility if I ignore the mounds of laundry and the pile of dirty dishes in the sink. I won't lie, I considered it.

I was sitting at the dinner table trying to entertain baby, communicate (via text) 4 different people, while quizing the man on his note-cards, when I chuckled to myself. I am pretty good at multi-tasking, not gonna lie. But, after that little circus act, do you really think I wanted to clean up after the 3 of us, give the baby a bath and get her ready for bed (i.e. chase her around trying to put a diaper and pj's on her - it's a new game she came up with. Creative baby award?), put her to bed, clean up all her toys, come back and do the dishes, clean the kitchen, then go fold the laundry, and finally make the man breakfast (c'mon, do you really think he's going to make himself something at 3 am? ya, no.)? NOOOOOOOOO! I just want to take a hot bath. My back hurts. The 25 pound teether, has been clinging to me like a little monkey, and she just doesn't understand, "mommy loves to hold you, but my back really hurts today". I just wanted to tell Sean to take care of it - I just want a hot bath and a glass of wine. Of course, I don't actually want him to do that. He has from dinner to bed to study what he needs to know for the next day of flying and academics; 2 hours. That's not a lot of time, and I want him to be able to focus and not stress about what I wish he was doing. But thinking about having his help sounded pretty amazing for a minute...

But, as I'm putting my precious monkey to bed, as she was kicking me in the face and scratching my neck with her fingernails I haven't clipped in over a week (because I haven't been in the mood for a WWE Wrestling match this week, which is basically what "nail grooming" has turned into), I try to think of a scripture. ANY scripture. I just wanted some strength and correction (I want to be able to do all of this without being SO tired and wishing I had help, I want to be able to "handle it"). I prayed.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
those who love Him and are called according to His Purpose"

That is exactly what popped into my head! My scripture references are a little rusty, so I looked it up.

Philippians 4:13
"I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

and Romans 8:28. 
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."


Now I know why teaching your children to memorize scripture is so important. These two verses I have known all my life. It's days like this, that I wish I had a better library of memorized scripture.

Anyway.... I could go to bed, leave the hubs breakfast-less, do the dishes and laundry tomorrow. But I know I won't feel good about that choice. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". He'll give me the strength to do it, and a good attitude, I pray, as well. :)

The second part is encouragement. Right now, my purpose is to be a good mother and wife. That means finishing all of these annoying chores today. That means getting enough sleep. That means exercising so I feel good about myself. That means doing the recycling so Sean doesn't have to think about it. That means giving Annabelle my undivided attention when she needs it. That means going above and beyond the minimum expectations my husband and daughter have of me. His purpose for me is to show His love to my family through all of these things. He has given me this purpose, and I am blessed to have it.

Tomorrow I may feel just as exhausted and sometimes frustrated, or I may be happy as a clam. But I wanted to remember this brief moment of peace I got when I remembered these two verses.