Hello again!
It's me, your long lost blogger. I hate that it has been so long since I have posted. Hopefully I will begin posting fairly regularly again...hopefully!
Anyway, as you all know, it's a new year. As per usual, lots of people are making resolutions and goals for the upcoming year. (Please note: I was going to try to abbreviate the word "usual," but I didn't know how to spell it. Turns out I am not the only one, and it is actually a widely discussed topic on the internet. Just thought you should know.) Moving on, I have made some goals for myself. I have some typical ones like starting to run and eat decently again, reading more books, getting more sleep, etc. But one of my main goals was beginning to wake up early each morning to read my Bible and pray before my day begins. I usually start out the school year okay, but then fade quickly as the alarm goes off early each day. I know from experience the difference that time makes throughout my day, so I wanted to get back into the habit.
Monday went great! I got up mostly on time, and started my day and week fabulously! To make it even better, I had a great day. I was super excited to see my students again, and it wasn't actually terrible waking up so early. Then Tuesday came. I got up mostly on time again, and I had a bomb reading and prayer time. I was a little bit sleepier than Monday, but I powered through. I was so excited because I just knew that this renewed habit was going to change everything.
[Enter the unexpected] Within an hour of finishing my prayer, my day began to fall apart. I got a text that gave me a heads up about some drama I would be walking into when I arrived at school. Then, I was rushed getting out the door. (I had to take 2 meals, 3 snacks, and coffee with me when I left, and I was running late.) And of course, there was traffic. I finally get to school, and realize that, not only did I not get to school early like I wanted to, I MISSED A MEETING. I pretty much never do that, so I was not happy. In cheer practice, I realized that I did not tell my girls to prepare to leave for the basketball game right after school, so none of them had their uniforms. Major coaching fail. After practice, I get two more pieces of less than fabulous info, one of which was somebody telling me I was not in a lovely mood. (I hate people knowing when I am in a non-lovely mood.) I began thinking to myself, "What is that deal?? I just knew that today was going to be a great day, and it has completely fallen apart before 10 AM!" And then I remembered I had started making an effort to put God first. Well duh Lauren, of course your frustrations are piling up. Satan wants you to give up and decide that sleep is more important preparation for a good day.
Now, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Lauren, everyone knows that the enemy attacks when you start getting closer to God. You should have been prepared for that." And you would be right. I should have. But I forgot...which is so easy to do. But now that I have been reminded, I will be expecting the unexpected. I will be ready. The next time I begin to have a bad day or get bad news, I will have a verse ready to stand on. I know that this is something that I need to do before I begin each day. And I will not let one bad day and one attack from the enemy make me question that. So, I just want to gently remind you to expect the unexpected. Not to live in fear, but to live in preparation for the attacks of the enemy. We know that he only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. We need to make sure that we are ready to kick him in the teeth the next time he tries.
