This evening has been an adventure in and of itself.
I have been watching all of my younger siblings, five of them to be exact. And if I'm being truly truthful...four of them aren't really my siblings. Just cousins that are temporarily living with us, but I consider them my siblings because I just love them that much!
Anyways, there are five of them.
13, 11, 8, 6, and 2 years old.
That's a lot of kids.
And a lot of different ages to contend with.
To make happy.
To keep calm.
To keep order and sanity in this house.
To be perfectly honest again, I'm just barely keeping my sanity every day.
Especially right now.
Like I said.
Five kids.
And just me.
A 17 year old who needs to learn how to manage her stress better.
An adventure to be sure!
So far my evening has consisted of lasagna.
Children.
Children covered in lasagna.
Children covered in Popsicle drippings.
Tears.
A broken washer.
Burning candles and open doors.
Lots of yelling and laughing.
And plenty of memorable events.
My life is a constant roller coaster!
I said before that I need to learn how to manage my stress better. Because when you have seven people living in a three bedroom house that a person capacity of four people....you're gonna have some stress! And me and my mom are experts at it. Trust me. Come live in my house for a week and you'll have a new meaning for the words multi-tasking, mom, stress, love, and sanity.
As of right now you probably don't know where this post is going. And that's okay because neither do I!
One thing I've learned in the past four months is that you just have to roll with the punches! Take it as they come. Take one day at a time. Or, as in my case, one hour at a time. Sometimes it's the only way to keep your on head on straight.
This past week in my Theology class we studied the book of Ezekiel. I have to admit, it's not my favorite book in the Bible. But I learned something new that I hadn't really looked at before.
It's amazing what you'll find in the Bible when you actually take to the time to open it and study what God is trying to say to us. :)
Ezekiel 37 is about the Valley of Dry Bones. Now that sounds a little dreary. But stick with me. It gets better.
Ezekiel 37: 1-12
"
The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel."
I read this and had to stop.
God told Ezekiel to prophesy over those dead bones. He told him to speak life into them. To tell them what they were to become!
God had given Ezekiel power. He told him to prophesy over Israel.
Israel had a pattern.
They were a rebellious nation.
Years and years of correction, discipline, mistakes, and learning; and the Israelites were still in rebellion!
God had been chasing them all over. Calling to them with a hurt and loving voice. But Israel still rebelled. Never learning.
Finally, God had unleashed His wrath upon His chosen people. The country of Babylon came and took over Israel and took the Israelites into captivity.
They thought that their life was over.
But God had other plans.
He told Ezekiel to prophesy over them just as he did over the dead and dried up bones.
Ezekiel told the Israelites the promises of God and breathed life back into their dying hope.
God wants to do the same with you!
We are those dead and dried up bones.
Just like Ezekiel, we have to speak life into our bodes!
We must declare what we want God to do in our lives. We must take control of our situation and then give them over to God. For only He can truly breathe life back into us.
Trust in Him!
He will never leave you or forsake you.
I don't really know what this has to do with the beginning of my post...
I don't really think it even ties in.
Oh well!
That passage of scripture has been on my heart for the past week or so and I thought that I'd share that with y'all.
I hope that you enjoyed learning about my hectic life. And I also hope that you learned something out of Ezekiel's story today.
Have a great evening! I pray that yours isn't at crazy as mine. And remember, always keep your sanity...don't take after me. I'm pretty sure I lost mine like ten posts ago!
Crazily,
Speak to your bones!
One Direction.
