Curve Balls

Well, we got back from our Thanksgiving trip last night and we were thrown several curve balls!  We planned on making the 7+ hour drive up north on Wednesday to avoid holiday traffic. 

 

Sunday night I didn't sleep all night, Monday night I didn't sleep all night so Tuesday I went to visit my acupuncturist to see if he could hit my sleep points and knock me out!  I told him that I hadn't been sleeping and thought maybe God wanted me up all night praying!  I did have some pretty sweet time with the Lord at 2am!  As he treated me he said, "you have a gift."  He went on to say that being spiritually sensitive, and being woken up by God's Spirit to pray was a gift.  He left the room for a bit and I kept asking myself, "can I receive this as a gift?"  Because after 2 nights of no sleep, I was worthless and looked like a wreck!  As a mom, I value sleep deeply!  Don't you?  And for a long time I obsessed over my sleep, or lack there of!  I would wake up in the morning with a complete log of when I slept, when I was woken up by children, how often and exactly how many hours I slept.  Based on that, I would start my day - either refreshed and ready or sluggish and anticipating the worst.  I've learned that sleep doesn't define me or dictate my day (I know what you're thinking - yea right!).  I have to trust that if God is waking me up to be with Him, then He will provide the energy and strength I need to make it through the day.  It is a challenge to rely on Him and trust Him when my human body and logic says there is no way! 

 

Tuesday night I slept like a rock... until my son started throwing up at 1am!  Seriously, can I get a break?  So we didn't end up driving up north on Wednesday, but decided to leave at 4am on Thanksgiving instead!  Awesome!  All I could do was trust God that our 7 hour trip wouldn't turn into 11 hours with holiday traffic.  As we got ready at 3:30am I was praying that God would go before us and make our trip smooth.  Guess what?  NO traffic!  And we hit fog for a moment (this time of year that can be a lot of fog in the valley that is very dangerous), but I prayed that God would take away the fog and literally in 2 seconds the fog was completely gone and we didn't see it again.  I started tearing up in the car - "I love you."  That's what I heard from God.

 

We made it up north in record time, 6 hours and 15 minutes!  and had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We planned on leaving Saturday morning to once again avoid the traffic returning home, but my daughter got the stomach flu!  Seriously?  So we stayed an extra day and I got a sinus infection in the middle of the night.  I could only laugh!  I realized that being up for 2 nights before this trip to pray was a complete gift because it prepared me for all the curve balls that were thrown at us!  God knew I needed that time to be alone with Him and get ready for what was ahead.

Can I receive sleepless nights as a gift from God?  Can I receive curve balls as gifts from God?  It's tough, but when I get my mind off all that is going wrong, like sleepless nights and sickness, and instead look to God and ask what He has for the in the midst of the curve balls, He is faithful to reveal Himself and His love for me and that is the best gift ever.

These photos were like the curve balls of our trip - they didn't go as planned!

But like this last one, there were some great surprises in the curve balls as well!