Thursday, January 28, 2010

If only a worry a day kept lice away!

God had a message for me this week. Has that ever happened to you? You know where every devotional you look at, blog you read, conversation you have seems to have the same theme/ Bible verse?

This is what it was for me this week: Do not worry

1.
So by the end of the day on Monday I was like, "Okay, God, I'm seeing a recurring theme here. But really I don't have a big worry problem, so I'm a little confused. Oh! I know there's somebody in my life with a worry problem that I need to pass this on to. Please reveal that person to me."

2.
Tuesday morning I'm dropping my daughter off at preschool and I hear a couple of the other moms from her class talking, their kids and whole families have just recovered from a bad stomach virus. And instantly the worry hits. We have not had this stomach virus. It has actually been a couple years since we've had a bad one run through our whole family of 5, but I remember it well enough to fear getting another! I begin feeling nauseous just thinking about it and barking at my kids to sing the entire ABC song while they wash their hands! But God says to trust Him and not to worry. . .

3.
A few hours later I talk to my mom who tells me that she's now "driving all over the place". She'd been restricted from driving since her seizure and that was supposed to last a couple more months. She claims her doctor is okay with her driving now. But my mom is having a lot of short-term memory issues. When I take her to run errands I have to remind her to lock the front door to her house when we leave and close her car door after she gets out at the grocery or she wouldn't do those things!! So the idea of her driving worries me! I can do nothing to stop her. Every time my cell phone rings, my heart skips a beat as I fear it will be news that my mom has been in an accident. But God says to trust Him and not to worry . . .

4.
Then I pick up my 1st grader at elementary school and he whips out a little note on yellow paper from the school informing parents that there were several cases of head lice discovered in the Kinder/First Grade hallway. . . We have never had lice and I FEAR IT! But God says to trust Him and not to worry. . .

5.
I check my son's hair and don't see anything. The next morning I go to the Whole Foods store to buy the mint spray the school note claimed wards off lice when sprayed in hair, but of course they are sold out. All the other moms from our elementary school got there first! I Google "How to keep away lice" and debate ordering expensive shampoo & conditioner or going to buy some tea tree oil. Then I read something that says these products are not tested well on children and may do more harm than actually catching the lice would! I worry about not buying stuff, I worry about buying stuff. But God says to trust Him and not to worry. . .

6.
I completely freak out my 4 year old daughter checking everyone's hair for lice that she cries out after we've put her to bed at night. I go up to see what's wrong and she whispers, "I think I have lice!" I assure her she does not and head down the stairs worrying that I've ruined her, my neurosis is spilling over and now she's as big of a nut as I am! But God says to trust Him and not to worry. . .

7.
Then there is the adoption paperwork. The dossier paperwork that I naively expected we'd be done with by the end of January. We got 2 different documents sent back to us from the lady who is helping us compile it all. They were not done right and have to be redone. Then our agency makes a mistake and sends us some very important papers with some required signatures missing; I have to call to get the correct versions sent to us. The FBI clearance we've been expecting to come in the mail any day now for 2 weeks still doesn't come. And my husband and I begin to worry. Worry that this paperwork will never be complete, and we'll be stuck in an endless nightmare of exact wording and signatures and dates matching and notaries and authentication and trips to FedEx FOREVER. But God says to trust Him and not to worry.

So stomach virus threat, my mom driving, head lice threat, lice preventative that injures my child's head, causing my daughter's potential neurosis, adoption paperwork that never ends all had me just about undone this week. And do you know what? None of them were actual problems. Just potential problems. Yet I made them problems by worrying about them!
Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
I'm working on it!!!

And in the mean time, if anyone has a super secret way of warding off stomach bugs, stopping their mom from driving, keeping away lice, or gaining FBI clearance for an international adoption, please lay it on me!


Find more Friday Funnies at Homesteader's Heart, Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life, 7 Quick Takes Friday at Conversion Diary.

16 comments:

  1. I would be the same way with the head lice worry! Yikes! But I love the verse that you share, and the reminder not to be anxious! (That's actually one of my favorites!)

    Happy weekend!

    Genny

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  2. I just wrote about this same worry bug that plagues moms on my own blog as I reviewed chapter 3 of The Power of a Praying Parent.

    So many disasters are averted everyday only by God's amazing grace and so many disasters turn into things of beauty only by God's amazing grace.

    It's good to see you are turning to Him, and I do hope next week is less eventful for you:)

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  3. Okay here you go you ready?
    Homeschool, hide your Mom's car keys, shave your kids heads, and I'll work on that last one for you and see what I can do! LOL

    My friend, I have weeks like that. My biggest worry is everyone getting sick. Because it's just no fun being sick and having sick kids.

    I hope you can have a fabulous Friday despite yourself! LOL!
    Big non-contaminate hugs from me!
    Kim

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  4. To keep lice away until you get the peppermint oil, use hair gel or hairspray, it keeps the lice from latching on. And, keep hilding onto that verse!

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  5. As St. Padre Pio once said:
    "Pray, Hope and Don"t Worry"

    It's in hoping and clinging to Jesus that we defeat the worry!

    Have a fabulous Friday!

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  6. Oh wow have I ever been there and done all of that. Except the mom thing, and OK the adoption thing too. But I have had many many others. But I have found it to be soo true over the years. MOST (and very close to ALL) of the things I worried about NEVER happened. So it was just so much wasted time. So I don't worry as much. However, it has occured to me recently, IF MOST of what I worried about in the past NEVER happened, then SURELY I am due. SIGH ...haha Oh how the enemy likes to keep us in this state. I've no advice to you for your dilemmas either...except I think hair spray is good. However, I can tell you ALL of my kids were exposed time after time after time to lice, and NEVER did have one of those nasty little creatures. Have a good day...Debbie

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  7. I can relate so well to worrying about potential problems! You have had great opportunity to be tempted to worry this week, but thank God for His Word that keeps us grounded and focused on the only one who is bigger than all of our trials and problems. Hope that you have a restful and enjoyable weekend!

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  8. I so agree with worrying I do it alot as well but know thatI should take it all to our Lord in prayer I hope things get better for you and that your stess gets lower

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  9. Does vinegar work on lice? I feel like I heard something about that somewhere... not sure though. Praying for you and all your concerns - trust God that He is who He says He is... that He is in control, even of the little things!

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  10. I just went through lice with SEVEN of my children (the baby is bald, hah!)

    THIS absolutely worked so well:
    http://mostgladly.typepad.com/cj/2009/11/lose-your-head-lice-without-losing-your-mind.html

    I used way less Cetaphil than called for. It's sticky, though!

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  11. Oh, also, I had it too! EEEWWW! I didn't do the Cetaphil approach on my hair. I put tea tree oil into some conditioner, coated my hair to the dripping point, combed it through, then wrapped my head up and left it on for 12 hours. Lice - GONE!

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  12. My first response is worry, so God is working on trust with me this year...which worries me! I enjoyed your list full of self reminders to trust Him. Have a restful weekend.

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  13. theres lots of stuff online for natural remedies....I used olive oil on all my kids for two weeks straight but it was in the summer and no cared that their hair was stringy and oily....tea tree oil works like a charm....those little buggers hate the scent. I usually put some in a spray bottle with water and spray their hair, if they're girls with longer hair do it up it braids.I have also added tea tree oil to shampoo and done it that way. worked very well

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  14. When you find an answer to that FBI clearance one, let me know. It isn't just international adoption. We have to do it for adoption through foster care system, too. :-)
    I worry about things that haven't happened, too. Thank you for the wise words and scripture.

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  15. I haven't quite had a week like THAT, but God definitely seems to try to teach me lessons loud and clear sometimes!!! Oh boy...sometimes I think life is crazy with my girls at home...and then I think about what they'll be picking up at school in a couple of year!! I know, I know...focus on one day at a time...Blessings as you work your way out of it all!

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  16. Wow! God has been really working on me with my worry problems, too! I worry about these crazy things that never happen, too! I find that reading scripture and praying really helps the most. I'm also reading this great book by Max Lucado called Fearless. It's wonderful! Hope you're doing better and had a great weekend!

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I'd love to hear what you think!