The Bright Side of Stomach Bug...Seriously

I was fortunate enough to catch a nasty 36 hour stomach bug this weekend. Lucky...I know. Don't you wish that you could spend 36 hours worshipping the porcelain gods? Probably not, but let me tell you exactly why I feel like there is a bright side to this sick tummy.

How many times in life do things get bad enough that you literally throw yourself at the foot of God's throne and beg for mercy? I certainly don't tend to lay at the foot of the throne as often as I should...until something hard happens. I tend to think that I have my every day life completely under control. I go grocery shopping, to play dates, teach my kids the ABC's and 123's, cook dinner, deal with money issues, go to Bible Study, talk to friends, talk to family, sleep, eat, do the 4,322 loads of laundry that accumulate over a period of 1 week, and the list goes on and on and on. Life is good...I say God is control, but who am I kidding? I've got this life thing down pat, man!

Until I catch a stomach bug. Then I realize that life (or shall we say my pride/self) has inched it's way into the center of my very own personal sanctuary. Friends...I'm pretty sure you spell that with a I-D-O-L. Instead of focusing on my God who truly is in control I focus on MY life, MY husband, MY kids, MY chores, MY everything! Ugh! How did it get this way? I sometimes get so busy living life that I forget that everything that is "mine" here on earth is simply on loan to me by the God who created it all.

So, sometimes I have to get a stomach bug so that I will remember that God is my focus and that I need to be on my face worshiping the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings. It's not about me, it's about HIM. Sometimes discipline has to suck to work. Throwing up sucks, so maybe God will do a work in me to help me remember this most important lesson. After all, there are a billion better places to worship the LORD than laying in the bathroom floor...sometimes that is just where we have to start out to be put in our rightful place.

Psalm 27:4(b)

"...that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek him in his holy temple."