Thankful for a bad day?

Where to start?! I haven't blogged ALL SUMMER.  I mean, I feel like I have nothing new to report, and yet 3 months has passed...so surely something has had to have happened, right?! Anyway, we'll just plan on catching up later and, for now, just go ahead and jump right into a new post!

Both kids pushed me to the limit and then some today.  William was especially nasty this afternoon, even with friends over, which is very atypical for him.  After spending some time by himself, he told me that the devil made him misbehave and he wanted to be a good boy again.  We talked about how the devil can try to make you do bad things but, as a Christian, it was his job to do what was right and what makes Jesus happy.  He started to tear up as I told him that when people did bad things, they needed to tell God they were sorry and ask for forgiveness.  I asked him if he wanted to ask God for forgiveness and he immediately said, "yes".  I asked him if he had a sick feeling in his tummy that was making him cry, and my sweet boy just nodded away.  I explained to him that the sick feeling was the Holy Spirit telling him that what he did was wrong.  We also talked about how if he asked for forgiveness, then that feeling would go away.  Together we prayed, my first born and I, and nothing that happened earlier in the day mattered anymore.

Moments like that are so special to me, and crucial to my relationship with my children.  Not an hour before our quite literal coming to Jesus talk, I confessed to a friend that I was at my wit's end with these kids.  Madelyn fought me on every count today: from going to the bathroom to pulling her hair elastic out (no less than 10 times).  William was rude and nasty while our guests were over, and disobedient more times than I can count.  I spent almost all day thinking wondering where I went wrong.  Why were my kids misbehaving so badly and driving me so ridiculously crazy?  Not one moment did I stop to think that my Father could be teaching me a lesson.

Looking back on the day, I truly believe that God uses our freewill as crucial teaching moments in our lives.  If William hadn't been so surly today, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to share in such an awesome moment of learning and growing together.  Today was definitely a test of patience, love, and compassion on my part, but it was so worth it in the end.  What was gained from our "bad day" is so much greater than any bit of sanity that was lost.  After all, I really wasn't but so sane to begin with, right?