Calling Upon The Lord

"I will call upon the Lord. Who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies, I will call upon the Lord"
This song is stuck in my head today. I can't help but think about a recent display of faith and prayer by Abby once again. I have been learning a lot from her lately!
We were having a rough day behaviorally, and Abby had been sent to the corner for a time out. It was the first time I sent her to put her nose in the corner for a time out. Usually she sits at the bottom of the steps, but she began making faces and back talking while sitting there, so I went to the next "best" thing. She did NOT respond well to that at all. I think there is a level of humiliation in sticking your nose in a corner for all to see when you've misbehaved and she was experiencing that for the first time.
Our rule is that the timer doesn't start until you are quiet in your time out. After about five minutes of protest, screaming and carrying on, I finally took her to her room.
I know this doesn't sound like a very encouraging story yet, but bear with me....
She was nearly done with the tantrum when she finally sobbed at me "I just want you to hold me so we can pray!"
That statement kind of surprised me. I said "okay" and she climbed in my lap and started pouring her heart out to God.
"Lord, Thank you for today. Thank you for Mommy. I am sorry I have a bad attitude. Please help me not have it anymore. Help me to be a good girl for Mommy and please don't change her mind about the new rules of timeout. In Jesus' name, Amen...say amen mom"
"AMEN"

I think that last part was meant to be that I would change my mind, but you get the gist. I was totally tearfully proud of my little girl for running to the Lord in her time of distress and in the midst of such a tantrum.
Abby is one of those people that once they are in full swing of a "freak out" you have to snap them out of it. I often think of that scene from Moons Struck when Cher slaps Nicholas Cage and simply says "Snap out of it!" We don't slap her in the face, but a swat on the hiney usually works. Just enough to get her attention so she stops freaking out and regains control of herself. I have also learned the signs of a total tantrum on the rise and have learned to stop it before it starts, so the swats have become less and less...so that's good, but sometimes when I miss that opportunity to stop it before it starts, it's good to see her regain control on her own and ask God for that help. I have a feeling swats are no longer a necessary course of action.  Which is good be cause I hated doing that.

Another example is when she is sick, she calls upon the Lord. Her most recent was last night. She'd had a fever all day and it still hadn't even acted like coming down. We gave her some medicine which she was finally able to keep down, and as we put her to bed, we prayed God would "lay His healing hands on her" so she would feel better and get relief from being so icky. A few minutes later, Adam said goodnight and "feel better" to which Abby replied, "I will. If God forgets to lay his healing hands on me I'll still be Sick in the Morning". She sounded a little defeated with that statement.  Is it any surprise though that while her fever was there all night and into this morning, at about 10am, when she was really starting to wake up for the day, and be more aware of my taking her temperature, that it was gone? She smiled big and had this "I knew He wouldn't forget me" look on her face. A sense of satisfaction in her Lord.

Anyway, the point of these stories is to call upon the Lord! even in the midst of our own "freak outs" and "tantrums" and when we've hit "rock bottom" (in her case, getting sick)


I think my new found love of parenting is seeing them grow in their faith. Her faith is enormous! I could not be more proud of her and the young faithful lady she is budding to be.