Washed by the Water (Part II)

Washed by the water...the song really rings true. As we know by experience, oftentimes God takes us through storms to grow us, to show us how we need to depend on Him. He never shoves us into the storm alone. He carries us through. We are never left to fend for ourselves. He knows we'd never make it. Our hope is always in our Comforter. His desire is for us to cling to Him through the trials, to admit we don't know the answers. Because He is God and is not limited by time and space, our future is already complete to Him. He already knows how the story plays out. So even when the storm comes we can experience being washed by the water. The water from the storm washes us, refreshes us, and tires us out.

A storm has an interesting way of making things new. After coming through a storm, hopefully, we are refreshed by clinging to the LORD. Just like a rainstorm that cleans the air, the sidewalk from debris, and the leaves on trees and bushes, a storm of life can have the effect of cleaning our souls by ridding us of the junk that has accumulated in our lives by bringing us closer to Jesus. It becomes clear how much we need Him in the storm, and everything else that seemed important doesn't seem so important.

This being said, the Lord answered a prayer in a very specific way today. Wednesday and Thursday of this week I had a very specific discussion with Jesus about the Monkster. For the first three days of this week he got stuck on the red light at school. For those of you familiar with classroom discipline, a stop light is often used for discipline. Everyone starts on the green light. After a warning for an infraction the child moves his name to yellow. If there are no more infractions the child can move back to green. If the child has to be warned again, he moves his name to red. A red light gets a note home. It takes quite a bit to land on red. Once on red there is NO HOPE of going back to green again for the day. This is how the first 3 days of our week went. After I called the babysitter on Monday and Tuesday and found out about the red days I became VERY scared about how the rest of our preschool year was going to go. The thought of last year's experience jumped into the forefront of my mind. Last year's experience DID NOT GO WELL.
Last year we pulled the Monkeyman out of school due to a lot of issues. It was just a really ugly experience. This week all of those wounds from last year were becoming fresh again. I was really beginning to doubt that school would ever go well for my boy. For a teacher that is devastating. I told the Lord in my discussions with Him that I couldn't do this again. I told Him how alone I felt even though I knew I wasn't alone. I told Him, begged Him to take this situation over. I also told Him that I needed to see His hand in this. I needed to see His fingerprints all over this situation.

Today - I saw the fingerprints. Monkey had a great day yesterday and today. He stayed on green both days. When Jeremy dropped him off his teacher gave him the "hold on" finger. She pulled Jeremy aside and told him that while she was out sick the other day she looked up sensory processing disorder, which is what Monkey was diagnosed with over a year ago. She was amazed at all of the information on it. She recognized symptoms in our boy and saw some solutions or at least some suggestions of what to do in certain situations. She went back and looked at his file and saw that I had written down the same suggestions. She apologized to Jeremy for not looking more closely at Monkey's file. She was very receptive to having our occupational therapist come and give her tips, and also was interested in talking with the diagnostic team that evaluated Monkey last spring. They offered their consultative services to us when we told them that Monkey would be going to a private Christian preschool.

All in all Jeremy's conversation with our boy's teacher was God's way of telling me that He had control. He was showing me His hand... His control over the situation. What a GREAT GOD!!! After I received this information by email I raised my hands in submission and praise to my God. I recognized again that I am but the created of the Creator. To God be the glory. He is worthy.

The squalls may still blow and the rain may still pelt my skin and soak me through. The storm may not be over, it may just be a break in the clouds for now. But because the Lord is faithful, He let me experience a warm ray of the sunshine of His love to reassure me that I won't be in the storm forever. Eventually, the clouds will disperse. The Son still shines. And I am washed by the water.