Under Attack? (Showing Grace Under Pressure)

When it rains, it pours.  Everyone knows that phrase, right?  I've spoken to a lot of people this week that have definitely felt like this saying applies their lives currently.  Today was a typical Sunday morning for my family.  You may have felt this, too.  You snoozed the alarm clock one too many times, and now you are running late.  I felt rushed from the very beginning.  After preparing breakfast, feeding our pets, getting dressed and rushing to the church for worship practice, I could say that I was feeling a little frazzled.  Did I do what a lot of mothers do?  Yes, I pleaded with my children to hurry up, argued with them to stop arguing, and finally hopped in the car and told my children that whoever was ready could go with me and the others could come a little later with their dad.  Once at the church, the road should have been smooth sailing.  Wrong!  We tried to record a Homebound worship session for several of our members that are home sick (we will post that to Facebook later in the week), but everything kept messing up.  The sound didn't come off right; the instruments were not picking up;or we just forgot the rhythm.  At one point, one of my teenagers stormed out and one of us adults got frustrated.  For once, it was not me!  When we finally talked through and prayed through the issues, we recorded the session.  We left the room to find out that technical issues were hitting our church.  The television for our children's church was not working.  My husband switched a setting, and it was resolved.  Then we found out the computer would not play our special guest speaker's Powerpoint presentation.  We found a laptop, moved a cord, and the problem was solved.  Then I walked into the back of the church to find my youngest son stretched out on a pew with his hoodie pulled over his head.  I should have known something was up when my oldest son intercepted me to say, "I was only playing with him."  Today was my youngest son's birthday.  He is thirteen, so now all four of my kids are teenagers.  You can imagine the hormones in our home!  Apparently, my oldest son felt that the back of the church would be the appropriate place to give birthday spankings.  My youngest did not agree.  Need I say more?  We talked through the Golden Rule- do unto others as you would have them do to you.  Another problem solved.  After that, we found out that our Super Bowl Outreach host was sick, so the party was moving to our house (We had a great turn-out of over thirty people).  This was all before ten in the morning.  Some would say, "What bad luck!"  Others would say, "Coincidence", but anyone who serves God understands that when you determine to follow God's will, you have now made yourself noticed by our adversary.  Our world recognizes good versus evil.  Watch some superhero movies.  Good overcomes an enemy.  The same applies to our spiritual walk.  God is the good in our lives.  When we follow Him, we face opposition.  I Peter 1:7 mentions that we may face problems.  It is how we stay faithful during our problems that matters.  This passage tells us that our faith is worth more than gold that can be destroyed by fire.  When we face trials, our faith is put to the test.  Are we genuine when we say we will follow God no matter what?  Will we throw in the towel when we face some hard times or will we stay faithful and bring praise, glory, and honor to Jesus?  All of my problems this morning were distractions.  They tried to get my focus off of praising God.  However, God moved anyway.  Problems were resolved, and during worship time, lives were touched.  You may be facing a rough time currently, but when you determine to praise God in spite of the problems, He will move in you!  Have a great week high-heeled warriors!