God is the Ultimate Bomb Diffuser

This is one example of how God can take an off day and make it a great day.

Today was Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday and the kids were a bit whiny and grumpy. It was difficult to get through each lesson, we actually cut them a little short because the kiddos were getting so overwhelmed. When we finally made it through the core subjects it was time for chores. That's when things started to get bad. There was whining and complaining directed at me but it got worse for the girls as they turned on each other. The things they said to each other...the crying, the slapping, and the destruction of toys - it was horrible! Any mother knows how it hurts to see and hear your children blasting each other.  The worst part was, all three were in on it.  If one was in another room, she would make her way into the kaos just to throw on some more fuel. This was all over cleaning up a mess!!  I waited patiently on the Lord for word on what to do (I tend to want to scream in these situations) so when I got it I walked calmly into the room, gathered some of the mess, and took it to the trash. Needless to say panic broke out and the mess got cleaned up rather quickly. Once everything settled down I felt the Lord saying "Time for a bible study."

I got this book called God what's your name by Kay Arthur from one of my home school supporters. It's a great guide for learning how to do a bible study with little ones if you've never done one before. I opened up to where we left off and if you know God, you won't be surprised at what the study was about. It was on Joseph! If you don't know Joseph's story I encourage you to read it, especially if you have sibling rivalry going on in your house. It's in Genesis and starts around chapter 40. Joseph had some brothers who weren't very nice to him in fact, they were going to kill him because they had some major jealousy issues. Joseph endured all kinds of hardships on account of his brothers. Wow! Good timing Lord, perfect illustration of how getting mad at your siblings can turn out bad! He then prompted me to teach my girls the five love languages, something that hadn't occurred to me before. As they took turns giving examples out loud of each love language, I sensed a change in the atmosphere. There is something great that comes along with knowing the truth and that is accountability. We set up a system where whenever someone does something that is showing love to another in the home, the one who is receiving will write the act of kindness or record the hug down on a piece of paper and then put it in the bag we set up. My goal is to find out my children's primary love language but also to give them the opportunity to practice loving one another because loving someone is a choice. The icing on the cake came when the girls found "Joseph, king of dreams" on netflix, the very same bible story they just studied. I'm praising God all day on a day like this. He never fails to come through for us when we devote time to studying His word. It's so simple and so easy to do and whatever problem you're facing, God will turn it into a lesson that lasts a lifetime. Isn't God Awesome!!