Thursday, April 22, 2010

Timing Is Everything

Wow! I did not know that the words I wrote yesterday were the very words I would need today. We are not having a good day today. My son is challenging me extra this morning. I sincerely think that he would be ready to argue that the sun is green today. I began to get uptight, frustrated and exasperated with him. Then yesterday's words began to ring in my mind..."whisper..." I chose to whisper. What a difference. It is actually empowering to know that "I" am the one controlling how I choose to respond. My world is in no way perfect, but I'm so blessed that I have our perfect Savior to hold my hand and whisper, "Child, you can do this."

God's timing has always amazed me in my life. It can be so hard when in our current circumstances to understand why God allows things to happen. You know what though? His timing is ALWAYS perfect! I look back over my life and see that when I had to wait for things that I thought I should have had immediately, that's God's timing was perfect. Hindsight certainly is 20/20.

I have always liked to be on time. If I'm not early, I'm late. However, when I had children this belief was greatly challenged for me. Many times, the unexpected would happen. Other times, I just hadn't planned ahead of time properly. If I am running late, it creates a great amount of stress for me and then for my children. Again, my attitude sets the tone for our home. There are certain things that I must be on time for, but I have learned that other things can be relaxed more. It can be a monumental chore to get a child with ADHD to get his/her shoes on and out the door. My mind thinks, "let's just put the shoes on and let's go!" His mind thinks, "Wow, these shoes a cool blue color. The sky is blue too. I wonder how high I can jump into the sky? Maybe if I climb the tree and jump, I can get father up." You get the picture. This leads me to looking around for my son to find him in the tree ready to jump! How exasperating that can be!!! I am learning to walk my son through putting on his shoes. Giving a child with ADHD too many steps or too many commands is setting them up for failure. It is a good idea to give him one action to do. I will then peek to see how that action is going. I will redirect if needed. Then, the next action to be taken can be directed. I have learned that it's not David's disobedience that led him to climb the tree, but his creativeness.

How many of us have stories of how God provided something just at the perfect moment? Last year, I was having a specially trying day with my son. I prayed and asked the Lord if He would give me something special to let me know HE knew and was aware. About an hour later, the mail arrived. It came about four hours earlier than it normally does. I thought it strange. I retrieved the mail and found amongst it a card addressed to me. I opened it up and the very front of the card said, "He Has You In The Palm Of His Hand." WOW! The Lord knew where I was and what I was experiencing! Even more amazing to me was that He knew when I would need that and had dealt with someones heart to mail this card to me. I felt so loved and humbled. I will always appreciate my dear sister in the Lord for following the Lord's leading. God's timing is perfect!

So... when you ask yourself, "Will this last forever?" Remember, that it will not. (Please feel free to remind ME of that on any given day too!). The Lord will equip you to complete each day as you raise the precious treasure you have been entrusted with. Hold on and enjoy the ride. It will be over before you know it.

3 comments:

Andrea said...

Lindsay thank you so much for sharing your journey with parenting David, it has really helped me to better understand your David and our Michael.

Tough days come but so do the beautiful ones, boy do I hand on to those

Andrea

Michael Travis said...

I appreciate your blogging. You have a good, natural style and your transparency is wonderful. Good reading!

Lindsay Andrews said...

Thank you Andrea and Mike.