Psalm 145 in real life...

Well, the Howard children have been through the ringer this year. I know that kids supposedly get sick quite often as they are building their immune systems, but it seems like our kids get sick even more though we feed them good food and try to make sure they rest a lot. This past Wednesday the kids were super fussy after going to Mother's Day Out and I just felt like the Lord was telling me to take them to the doctor. I honestly avoid the doctor as much as I can (though I think we have the BEST pediatrician around- we love Dr. Karr and his staff... they are always available to answer my endless questions and are all so great with the kids when we come in... Dr. Karr also has his office filled with old cars that he lets Asher look at- I use this a lot when prepping Ash for doctor visits) and usually let the kids' sicknesses "take their course" but when praying for the kids, I just felt like it was time to take them in. Neither had been sleeping well either, and that to me is a major sign of needing to see the doctor. With all that said, we made the trip to the doctor and found that the kids had "Hand, foot and mouth virus" where they have painful cold sores all in their mouth and throat and little bite-looking red spots on their hands and feet. Poor little babies. They have surprisingly done well dealing with this sickness (besides not sleeping that well). They have still wanted to play and have been pretty joyful for having mouths full of sores. They were not able to eat much until yesterday but they drank TONS of almond milk and smoothies.

So how does all of this relate to Psalm 145? I remember reading this Psalm last year when I was dealing with Zoee's spit up. One verse in particular stuck out to me:

Psalm 145:8-9

"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works."

I read this just after coming home from the doctor on Wednesday. I read it and thought, "I know somehow that this event is part of God's mercy even though I don't really understand how." Later that day I got a call from Sonny. I had had trouble at the doctor accessing our insurance and Sonny told me that the automatic payment we had tried to set up had not gone through and that we had been unknowingly without insurance for about a month. If we had waited 2 more days to call and talk with the insurance company, we would not have been able to keep the current policy but would have had to start all over with the application process (which is simply AWFUL if you have ever had to apply for a personal insurance policy). I just knew that was my answer to how God's mercy was working through this. I would never have called the insurance company had this not happened. Now we are all set with the insurance and the kids are getting better. We have had some great times with just our little family (we are trying to keep them away from everyone so they do not give their little sickness to others) and we have had some really "low key" days trying to rest up. Overall, though I HATE the kids not feeling well, I can see that this is part of the refinement process of our family (I have learned again that I need God's grace to walk in patience and joy) and, in a small way, an instance where God was protecting us.

Be encouraged that both good and bad times are opportunities for us to see God's mercy. We just need to ask HIm for wisdom to know what He is doing and be still enough to listen. The Lord is so near and wants to be intimate with us. He is the Perfect Father!

Hope this encourages you a little today!!

Here are some pictures of us playing in the backyard... our "go-to" spot this week =)