A no good, very bad day

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Monday was an awful day. There was NOTHING good to be found about it. My husband was off work, I thought that would be such an awesome day, a treat for all of us. It was a holiday and he hasn't had a day off out of the regular schedule for so long.

BOY was I wrong! We woke up at each other's throats. The kids woke up at each other's throats. What I thought was going to be a fun day as a family turned out to be a total disaster. I wanted to strangle my children and throw my husband out on the street, I'm sure you get the idea by now.

I tried repeating scripture, I tried praying, I tried turning on Christian music I even tried saying the name of Jesus over and over and over just hoping for some resemblance of peace but nothing came. During the kids nap time I posted on my facebook about it being an awful day with no hope of getting better...

I think God loves making us eat our words. There is hope, there's always hope. Jesus is our hope.

My sweet sister texted me and through tears I texted back to her explaining what was going on and she said she'd pray for me. My husband was gone at this time and I got the strong sense that I should get out some oil to anoint my house...Ok I've never done this before and I was very nervous and weirded out by the whole thing.

The nudge kept getting stronger though and through more tears but a very strong sense of urgency and courage I got out our vegetable oil and poured it in a bowl and kneeled on the floor begging God through my sobs to bless it and then show me what to do with it.

All that mattered was peace in my home and a strong sense of urgency. Around each window and on each window sill there is an oily tear stained cross made by my fingerprints. No one else has noticed, neither my husband nor my children. In every window, and at the back door and front door I prayed and I oiled. I prayed for peace, I prayed for love, and even more so I prayed that by the power of God no evil will enter our house ever again, that in Jesus name the enemy had to leave.

Can I just tell you as soon as my husband returned home and my children woke up there was peace. Peace in my heart, peace in our home...peace and kindness and joy. I'm not talking giddy happiness I'm talking the kind of joy that peace brings. Just a quiet in the spirit only God can give. We apologized to each other and had a group hug with God's arms around all of us. Even though we have disagreements and arguing between my children there is still peace in my heart. Courage to do the right thing and the word perseverance circling in my spirit. God is still in our house and the oily tear stained crosses remain.

I wanted to share this story with you because family is so important to God, we are His daughters and He has given us the gift of our family to love and to nurture and to serve. When tension and bad attitudes and hurtful words enter our homes it is our job to take back our family from the enemy. Our husbands are supposed to be the spiritual leader but when they won't take that roll it's our job to call on our Father. It's our job to be courageous in our homes. It's our job to be prayer warriors for our children and husbands. Will you stand up and be prayer warriors alongside me?