Trying to Escape the Moment

Yesterday, I had one of those moments. While I changed my crying baby's dirty diaper, my daughter came running to me announcing that she accidentally wet her pants & her socks which left a trail all the way from the bedroom back to the kitchen where the incident started. While we were cleaning it up, my son dropped all his cheerios onto the floor & insisting that I get him down, “Now!” He may be non-verbal but he definitely knows how to communicate his wants. I wanted to scream or better yet, I wanted a piece of chocolate...anything sweet to help me “escape” from this undesirable moment and into a sweet world of bliss (at least in my head).

For the first time in a long time, I didn't turn to the pantry but to prayer. I asked the Lord for strength to get through this. I felt overwhelmed and anxious and I remembered once hearing an older mom say, “Just do the next thing.” That little word of wisdom helped me to gather my thoughts and peacefully care for my children one at a time. I praise God for His grace for that moment. After the kids were settled, I read an article in the latest Voice of the Martyrs newsletter that we received this week. It really helped me to take the focus off of myself as I remembered the persecuted church and lifted them up in prayer.

Many times we turn to food because we're anxious, overwhelmed, bored, discontent, etc. At those times, we should 1)Stop!, 2)Pray for God's strength and power to turn away from our fleshly desires and temptations, and 3) Use that energy to serve someone whether it's your family, church, or world. Romans 12:11, Galatians 5:13, 1 Peter 4:10, and many other scriptures remind us to serve one another. Many times when we take the focus off of ourselves and onto others, our temporal desires lessen as we strive to do those things that have an eternal value.

For my next post, I plan to list various ways that you can serve others rather than eating.

May the Lord help each of us to serve one another as we, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14).