An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind. ~Mahatma Gandhi

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Three eternal truths: things are not what they seem, the world is at war, and each of us has a crucial role to play. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. ~Mother Teresa

Satan builds his strongholds in the shadow of our strengths. ~John Eldredge

The Devil is easy to identify. He appears when you're terribly tired and makes a very reasonable request which you know you shouldn't grant. ~ Fiorello La Guardia, former mayor of New York City

**DISCLAIMER...Kinda gross details specific to this cold and flu season present within this post.**

Sunday morning my oldest daughter broke family tradition. Since birth, all of my children, without exception, have had an uncanny timing of being violently ill only at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Not Monday at 11:30 a.m. so I can get them a sick appointment with the pediatrician, not Thursday at 4:30 p.m. after a majority of the day's schedule has been accomplished. Not even Sunday after lunch. Nope, Sunday 2:00 a.m.

There is frequently the need for laundry and a change of venue for sleeping, and one couch or another has been the best, and I usually find a place to sleep nearby, usually on the floor. With four children, we very easily formed a "sick routine" of what is needed (tissues/towel/bucket) a something to drink or eat (cracker/Jell-O water) and a favorite blanket. While they are getting settled, Dave and I would be making the altered plans for worship and how this was going to effect the day. Sometimes it meant having a sick child at church, or one us staying home with one or many. Whoever wasn't preaching would be the one who stayed up with the sick one(s) usually, but sometimes it has needed one of us to pull a prepared sermon or lesson plan out to cover responsibilities.

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2007/12/01 The song The Sound of Sickness is found in this broadcast at 4minutes and 52 seconds in - very well done.

But this Sunday, A. was throwing up at 8:00 a.m. - and our concern and cleanup and plan alteration needed to happen very quickly. Getting A. settled and all things cleaned up, it was obvious to me that I was going to be sick, too. VERY SOON. I am never sick. The only times I have been queasy have been when I am pregnant.

I am not pregnant, so that isn't a part of the circumstances.

As I am hanging over the kitchen sink, I know the truth...Sick mom, sick kid - no one is going to have a single problem if I don't show up at church in leadership, yet I still feel this urgent, compelling need to be there. I am the Children Sunday School teacher, but the only children that have been in our Sunday School have been mine. "Why are you pressing my heart to do this, Lord? There won't be anyone else there. I'll just be getting other people sick if I go." But still, the compelling feeling is present. So our worship plan includes tag team and feeling very poorly, I get to church early.

And there are two new children waiting at the door, and the other adults that are there haven't met them before. As our lesson begins, their questions become very specific..."Why did God create the world?" "Did God really make the animals and people?" "Who is that man in a bathing suit bleeding on that cross?" "What is sin?" "Why can't God be around sin?" "Do I really have sin in my heart?" Needless to say, I quickly ditched my lesson plan and we began a walk down the Roman Road explaining sin, redemption and personal salvation. With two young, dirty hands holding mine, two young hearts said a prayer asking Jesus to forgive their sin and live in their heart.

I get choked up everytime I get the privilege to share Jesus with someone in this way, even more so when it is with a child. I pray that the seed of salvation and redemption is able to be planted deep, protected and nurtured in God's love. God's plan for Sunday had been in motion for weeks, and I didn't quite know it.

I had been at war all morning - war against viruses, war against germs, war against maternal instincts, war against common sense even. But it had also been spiritual warfare - there are no two ways about it. God's compelling voice was telling me He had a plan in motion. Satan is rarely the blunt, direct, transparent attacker, but rather Satan's workings are very subtle, sounding very close to good ideas when I am tired. The subtle workings of Satan tried to make sure I stayed at home, under the guise of the most loving, reasonable and understandable of reasons. I was nearly convinced that I shouldn't go to a place that God had already prepared for a different ending to the story.

When you feel the compelling, urging voice of God within your heart, listen closely and follow where He is leading you. Be strong in the Lord and in His plans for you.

Be strong in the LORD and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:10-11