Working against me?

There is a Chris Tomlin song from several years ago called "And If Our God is For Us". Part of the chorus says:

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us

And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

Then what can stand against?

I have found myself saying a phrase to my family quite often: "Why is everyone working against me?!" 

There are days I think they have held a secret meeting....the discussion must look something like this:

• "Ok, every item my wife needs out, I'm going to move, put away, or find a new home. And these items she is all done with, I'm going to leave strewn about."
• "My job will be to follow her around and undo what she has just completed."
• "If I see mom cleaning, I'm going to make a mess in another room."
• "I'm going to be super sensitive and emotional all. day. long. as soon as mom asks me to do something."
• "I'm not going to need to go potty until mom puts the van in reverse."
• "Let's hide all our shoes so we can't find them when she asks us to." 
• "I'm curious about 478,927 things and today is the day I'm asking all the questions."
• "My answer today will be the whiniest 'no' I can muster, even if I really want to say yes...it will be preceded by 'no' first."
• "Your mother didn't create a junk bin so let's just create one for all these items that don't appear to have a home." 
• "As soon as mommy puts the last load in the dryer, everyone has an accident, gets dirty, or spills something." 

We had our first three babies in three years. It wasn't what I would call easy to have a three year old, an almost two year old, and a newborn BUT there was seemingly less plotting (ha!) and logistically it felt easier then than some days do now...independence and opinions can often feel stacked against me. 

But then these lyrics above echo in my head and the words of Romans 8:31: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Just before this verse, it talks about the Holy Spirit helping us in our weakness, God working things together for good for those he has called, justified, and glorified. 

Does this mean that because I love the Lord I won't have hard days? Nope. Not at all. There is a very real enemy out to devour those who claim Jesus is Lord (1 Peter 5:8). And we live in a fallen world (Genesis 3); the impact of sin on this world touches each of us, daily.  

Does this mean that every day is going to be champagne and roses...or unicorns and butterflies? Nope. Because kids are people, husbands are people, and I am a person. We are all flesh and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:21-23). And we all behave out of that flesh sometimes. 

So what does this mean? For me, it means trying to shift my perspective. The enemy is prowling around...but Jesus defeated death. The impact of sin touches me daily, but so does the redemption ushered in by the cross. The enemy is not my husband or my kids. The enemy is standing against God--not me. 

So on days when it feels like everything is crumbling and nothing is going right, maybe it is because I am taking Satan's attacks against God on myself? Maybe I am taking my frustration with the Devil out on my family? 

And maybe, I am not yielding to the prompting of God to see things differently: 

• "I'm not sure what things your mom needs, but I'm trying to be helpful."
• "I wanna play with mommy--she does laundry a lot, maybe it is her favorite game."
• "Mom is busy, I'll entertain myself."
• "I was trying hard to obey but I do have to go potty."
• "God is awesome and I wanna know everything about all the things He made."
• "I just want a hug. I'm little but life is hard."
• "Let's try to not to leave anything for mommy to do."
• "This game is so fun, I missed the cues that I needed to go potty."
• "We love mom so much, let's plan a surprise for her."

Giant mess or creative play so I can cook?! Perspective shift.