~ No Bullies Allowed ~

Well, this week hasn’t gone exactly as my planner had mapped out, but it is what it is and I will make the best of it and give all glory to God! It really does astound me when I set my eyes on my God and the beautiful things he has in store, that the enemy begins bullying me around harder and harder. This is nothing new. That is his plan; to bully me and get me down. Well, I don’t like bullies and I take great pride in beating him down with my arsenal of scripture!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.”

John 10:10

I began my Monday intent on it being a wonderful day in the Lord; seeing as how it was the first full week of the New Year I was excited to move forward full speed ahead. My, how quickly the enemy wanted to put a damper on things and began throwing darts at me trying to get me down. All day was like that but I kept praying through the shots and firing back with my own ammunition of scripture. Even late Monday night I got a request for prayer from a friend across the country.  I immediately began praying asking God to bind Satan from this situation and typing my prayer out for her and just as I finished, my iPad shut off. The battery had died and when I plugged it in, the prayer was gone. Now, God heard my prayer, of this I am certain, but my friend had not. By this time it was 11:15 and even though I was tired, I was NOT going to let the enemy get the upper hand so I prayed again and typed even more. I pushed send and thanked God for giving me strength to press on in confidence he heard my prayer twice now!

Tuesday began great but started deteriorating as I began getting sick, quickly at that. Ahh, and then the fun of Wednesday morning as I awoke to fever, terrible aches and pains and headed to the doctor early.  I was the second one in line and was still there for 2 hours. Throw in the fun of almost passing out in front of a jammed-packed waiting room full of people and you just have the makings for a great memory! Haha! Then came the diagnosis of flu and being quarantined on bed rest for 5 days, it was time to rearrange life. Shew!  Cheerleading practice, ballgames, work, Ocean Blend, church, meetings, pickup schedules, etc. Let me just say, it is not easy when mama is down. Haha! But thanks to some amazing people in my life who step right in and take over for me. Love them all!  Even through all the chaos, Callie and Caleb stepped up and did their homeschool work (and actually more than needed) without being asked and did extra chores around the house. I am so incredibly blessed by the wonderful family I have.

So by Wednesday night, things had settled down a bit.  I took some time to thank God for giving me strength to stand up to this bully. I praised him for allowing me time to be in His Word a little more.  I do not like being sick, but I will look at this as a way to refuel so I can continue fighting the enemy who tries to bully us and bring us down. I will not wallow in my sickness. I will enjoy precious time in God’s Word, enrich my mind with more reading, and praise my God for rest and healing. I will do all of this with my box of tissues, bottle of Advil and Tamiflu, and lots of liquids!

My God really is AMAZING! My plans don’t always come to fruition, but no matter what the enemy throws my way…. God equips me with a heavenly-sized bat to knock him out of the park! Lol!  No bullies allowed!

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper…”

Isaiah 54:17a