In the Midst of Chaos

Have you ever sat down to pray, read your Bible, been on the phone with a friend having an iron-sharpening-iron conversation then suddenly the world goes awry? All the children who were happily playing with each other in the quiet before the storm just moments before are now needing 1 and 2 and 3 different things from you. Someone spilled something on the floor and someone else is playing in it while someone else just tracked it across the room. The laundry you just folded is now strewn down the hall and they are fighting over who gets to sit in the basket. Someone else has 8 urgent questions only you know the answer to. The floodgates open wide and your moment of peace, your desperately needed God moment, seems to evaporate in the craziness. You feel time slip from your grasp, you feel the pressure to just let it go. And you might do just that. 

Can I encourage you, mom? Jesus was born into chaos. During Roman oppression and a massive census with no room at the inn He was birthed into a smelly, dirty, dark and cold animal shelter. All this with a jealous king on a killing spree on their heels. They fled for their lives, living as poor refugees in a foreign land. He is not afraid to enter our chaos. He was born for this!

Jesus beckoned the children to come to him when the adults didn't want Him to be bothered by them. He sat the children right in the middle as an example to them. Your children, as rambunctious as they are, are always welcome in His presence. 

Jesus healed, did the miraculous, with mobs pressing in on him. The woman with the issue of blood just reached out to touch the hem of his robe and was healed from years and years of pain and suffering. If we could only press through the crowd and noise to touch Him--we will meet the Healer. His strength and power is for the weak and weary. It's for you, woman. Press in.

The times I've tried my very best to create the most perfect and quiet moment to meet with God in my day, the other shoe drops. Whether it's with friends and we're doing a devotional, having prayer or just my own time with God, it usually never goes according to my plans of un-interruption and perfect tranquility. And it's stressful when things don't go how I envisioned them, how I thought it all out in my head how God would be near. But He already is: unafraid of our mess, not annoyed by our loud children, and unphased by our one thousand pressing issues all at once. 

While at another mom friend's house I was sharing some of this with her because just the day before we were trying to stream the Holy Ghost documentary and the distractions and issues that erupted were tantamount. My first reaction was irritation, then frustration, followed by anger then defeat and guilt--after all, trying to be open to what God would show us now became eclipsed by how I fall so short. 

We were in agreement that we really should remain unphased by chaos as Jesus was. Later we decided to pray for some needs we were aware of and we were not too long into the prayer before the kids we had just sat down with a snack and a movie began to get loud. The loudness turned to rough-housing, which turned to crying. There was snack stealing and snack spilling which also led to crying, asking for more snack, asking for different snacks. Then they wanted to sit with us on our laps and try to take things they shouldn't have off the table, blow out the candles on the table, someone had to use the bathroom, someone was trying to play in the bathroom, someone took the wrong sippy cup, someone wanted juice instead of milk--the distractions rose up like a kicked hornets nest that demanded our attention. And, unphased, we would pause our prayer, get up and redirect, right a wrong, answer a question, meet a need, dry a tear, then sit back down and dive right back into praying. It was amazing that instead of getting annoyed and irate, we just dealt with whatever issue arose then continued to seek The Lord. I can tell you that the result of pressing in to touch the hem of His garment was glorious.

As my friend began to pray for our families she paused and I saw this quick vision in my mind. She began to pray again and was praying exactly what I had seen in the vision! I said "I just saw that!" And she replied, "I know, so did I!" In the vision I saw this big tree and there was fruit on the branches and the fruit would fall to the ground and our children would come happily and pick up the fruit and eat it. That is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, what God desires for our families. As we grow and abide in Him, the natural result is His goodness of the Spirit which overflows into fruit that our families are nourished by. After prayer we sat there in awe and with tears of how God had been faithful to meet us in such a beautiful way!

Don't give up, press in. He is happy to meet you where you are at, mama. Not only spiritually but physically as well. At your kitchen sink, kissing boo-boos, in the midst of chaos--He is there with you. Have that Mary mentality to receive from Jesus that which cannot be taken from you. God is drawing you to Himself and doesn't need complete quiet or a deep meditative state to show up. He will meet you right where you are at because He loves you and wants you to know it.