Wait on the Lord for His "Victory Store"

Some days are not quite what you'd hope they'd be!

Here are some reasons for this particular day...and the highlights also...

1. Overall reason- I really prayed for this day to be awesome and it wasn't completely- there were many irritations and struggles.  There were good things.  I spent some time with my 8 year old daughter at the local bakery.  I took her for a haircut and she got a new hair brush in her favorite color.  I wasn't too uptight to say no to the hairbrush request and I was glad because she was so happy.  We looked at beautiful fabrics and lovely craft things in a sewing shop and we are both creative.  I saw the Lego Ninjago movie with my boys and I liked it.

2. I felt my husband was not giving me a lot of attention and affection.  I was getting irritated at him.

3. I wanted to be generous and let my kids see two holiday movies because we aren't doing much having moved house early in the first week.  After the second movie my oldest says he told me he wanted to see the other movie that his Dad and sister saw, and apparently he tried to tell me that...I got so irritated because I wanted them to be happy so badly.  I blamed both myself for not receiving the communication properly and also him for not telling me more clearly.

4. I didn't really want to go to Mc Donalds but I did anyway.  Later I wished we'd gone to the organic vegan cafe I love and I've wanted to take the kids there for ages because it closes soon after school and it's shut at odd random times.  I had a momentary impulse then pushed it aside, telling myself it was about the kids being happy as they had wanted to try out the new 'playground' there.  They still weren't ecstatically happy anyway.

5. My daughter says, "when are we going to spend time together today mummy?"- After the beautiful morning 'I thought' we had together!

6. Ben and I fought in the car quietly as 'a discussion' on the way home and it was quietly tense.

7. I get annoyed because everyone is going on about how 'mummy hates Captain Underpants' and making a big deal of it!

There are days when I want things to go 'well' so badly, that the 'less than perfect reality' can be a punch in the guts!  I struggled.  Feelings of failure crept up and coiled their tendrils around my heart.  I tried to fight it off but it clung on! Hoping to have a day without tension, hoping the kids would be thrilled in every aspect of their day out to the movies...

I realized that sometimes I'm trying to unknowingly 'fix' long term issues with certain activities I plan in a given day and so my expectation of the outcome is way too unrealistic.  These are actually deeper issues I cannot completely solve but I need Gods intervention...

These issues may come in many forms, such as a child's insecurity, not resolved by one special day together, personality conflicts, not resolved by just trying harder to connect, lack of motivation to do something important for long term health, not resolved by shocking advertising scare tactics!

So what can we do- what can I do- what hope do we have for these things that we don't seem to have the power or ability to change?

Well...there is a mighty God with unlimited power for change who cares for us and our families and friend and circumstances! JESUS! And he is able!

It is HE who holds victory in store for the upright...Proverbs 2 v 7: "he holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless"
HE=GOD

The victory "in store" means we will have in between times when we are still waiting for the "store". These are the desperate times, the times we are looking for answers, the times we are seeing problems but not answers or solutions.

There will be times where we are needing victory in many areas, longing for victory...but we can't take it up into our own hands and think we are going to make the victory happen- it's time to wait on the Lord for his "VICTORY STORE" to be released.

I read today the phrase...
"Let Him be the hero!"
He wants to be the restorer of things lost and lacking, be it confidence, trust, identity, self worth...
He wants to be the builder of marriages
He wants to be the source of satisfaction of the hearts of our children, not purely outward circumstances and things 'going right' for them
He wants to be the one who blesses us with those awesome family memories we may not be able to construct with a 'plan'

HE IS A SHIELD...
"Those days" just happen to us all..we can see the irritations, inconveniences, hurts and upsets and disasters...and we know there are many true disasters going on around the world right now...some peoples lives are in devastation.  Even though we may be horrified at what does come our way, there are some things God is sparing us from, day by day, as those within the covenant of protection of Jesus Christ blood.  And if you are not under that covenant, come behind his shield today!

In summary, victory may not have come upon you yet, but it is "in store", ready to be released in God's timing....keep faithful, prayerful, watchful...and meanwhile, remember God is shielding you, often in unseen ways...