There was another mom who had, I wanna say  termites or flying termites. It was something worse than just termites. I think termites are awful. But this was like either a souped up, termite or some sort of other thing. 

So you can just insert whatever awful thing that you’ve been through where it’s just terrible and it’s very hard to get rid of. Like that’s really the point of this episode is it’s a terrible thing that’s happening and it’s difficult to get rid of it. 

And another mom. Was asking me about lice and she said, we just had lice and we did all the things. And if you’ve never had lice, just bless you. I hope that never happens to you. But there are so many things that you have to do. There’s like special shampoo and then you’re cleaning everything, everything that’s cloth basically you’re having to clean, preferably it very high temperatures and you know, all the bedding and the stuffed animals.

It’s just crazy pants. And then, you know, if the kids themselves have lice, you have these special combs and you’re like, combing. It outta the kids. So anyway, she had lice and then there was, I don’t know how much time in between, and then they got it again. So who knows why, but it’s just these moments where you’re already a mom and you already have whatever’s on your plate, right?

I don’t mean any moms who are just like, no, my plate is great. I’m easily handling all the things on my plate, right? Like we have very full plates these days. And so you’re already just have the regular things that you’re thinking about, feeding kids, driving them places, doing laundry, cleaning your house, and then something wild and disruptive shows up in your life.

Like, lice or mice or terminates or bats. And it’s not easy to take care of like when a kid throws up. As much as we don’t like that, we’re like, oh, honey, and we clean it up and we wash some clothes and we move on.  

Now when we have back-to-back kids with the flu, and then that’s happening for three weeks, I put that in this category, right? Which is just like, it’s terrible. It’s yucky and it just keeps happening and we don’t know when it’s gonna end. and it’s gross. 

And so your mind goes a little bit batty when that happens. And so. One of our members was like, please just make an episode on that. I was like, great. So I was thinking about it and I was thinking, okay, let’s break it down. ’cause that’s what I do  as a teacher and as a coach. I’m always like, okay, what are the steps? 

So the first one is probably just, I couldn’t decide if the first one was acceptance or if the first one  was just surrender. But I guess it has to be accepted, first. The first one is just like, this is happening. This is happening. Just step one, this is happening  because of course your brain is gonna say, this shouldn’t be happening. We shouldn’t have lice again.  

Like just imagine that mom seeing whatever she had to see and her whole body being like, no, no, we are not doing this again. We just did this. I think also we could put mold infestations in this because those tend to not be one and done. Those tend to be like, we found it here and then we found it here, and then when the remediation didn’t work.

Just these maddening, gross, long, drawn out things. So the first one is acceptance. This is happening or this is still happening, right? Maybe you’re two weeks in  and you’re just like, I cannot believe this is still happening. Which is fine. I allow myself to have that thought, but at some point we’ve gotta just drop into acceptance.

Like, okay,  this is happening. It just really is. It really is happening. This is where we are,  this is the situation. And then  I want you to just really write then to bring the Lord in, right? And just go, alright, Lord,  I don’t know why we’re doing this again. I dunno why we have lice. I don’t know why the mice are still there. I don’t know where the termites are coming from.

But Lord. I will do this for you. I will do this for you, and I’ll try to find the lesson in it, like really surrendering to the Lord. Like, I will do this. I will carry this cross for you. Like he’s handed it to you and you’re looking at it. You’re like, I see that Lice cross. And then you see Jesus in his beautiful, sweet, amazing face.  

And If he was standing in front of you with the lice cross, kind of with some like raised eyebrows like, are you gonna do this? You would say, alright Lord, I will carry that. And then he hands it to you and he puts it on you. 

I think there’s something so beautiful about that, that imagery, like that image of, really imagining it’s not on you. And he’s standing there and he’s like, will you do this for me? And just saying, yes Lord, I will do this for you.  

Completely changes how it feels. It’s still hard. It’s still yucky, it’s still gross, it’s still drawn out.  But we choose. We say yes, we surrender like our, it’s almost like we’re surrendering our rebelliousness and our desire for comfort.

We’re like surrendering the flesh to him and saying, you know what?  My soul will carry this for you even though this is really hard for my earthly body. I will carry this for you. It’s really beautiful. And from that place, from that place of being a yes and being willing to do it, you  should find the feelings of, like peace and conviction.

Conviction, which is, you know what? God is asking me to do this right now. How do we know the lice is in your house? That’s how we know God is asking you to do it right now. Okay? And then peace is being at peace with the situation. Like, this is okay, I’m okay. I can handle this. I choose  just that strong sense of I will do this for the Lord. 

And it’s really beautiful to live like that. And then from that place of conviction and being at peace, you will also be a much better problem solver. Okay, so that’s the next step. So we have acceptance, then we have surrender, and then we have problem solving. But problem solving from conviction and peace is very different than problem solving from stress and resistance. 

And so here is where we’re just making the plan. We’re like, all right, we gotta do the laundry again, or I gotta call another mice guy, or maybe we’re gonna try different mice traps and  you know, now I’m gonna Google more things about termites and I don’t know, whatever the thing is. You’re like, this is solvable. I’m going to solve it. 

But we just, we do it from this totally different place. So. These things  are terrible. I don’t wanna take that away from you. In no way are we saying this isn’t a big deal, like every time I talk to these moms. 

Okay, lemme tell you about the bats. Okay. So this mom, I’m probably gonna mess this up, but she was saying something like  either the things that bats touch or bat poop  is so. Toxic. that if the bats are in the house while you’re sleeping and they don’t know what the bats did, that they still then recommend that you get rabies shots.  

Like it’s that serious. And so she was sick. ’cause I was like, you know, you know bats are not great. But I was like, what’s the big deal? And she was explaining this to me and it really sounded quite awful.

Like if the bats got into your house and then were flying around your kids’ rooms, that you would have to give them like some insane number of very painful shots because, and we don’t even know what the bats did, but it’s like, just in case, because it’s so deadly, whatever the bats carry. 

And she told me a bunch of things that they had been trying and  it was like, objectively terrifying and stressful. So in no way am I taking that mom and I’m like, Hey, it’s totally fine.  I’m not doing that right. But I am, like shaking her shoulders a little bit and I’m like, Julie, Julie, I’m just making up that name. Julie, listen, listen.

But this is happening right now. I love you. This is happening. God is asking you to carry this cross right now. Can you do that for him? It’s heavy. I agree. I don’t know why you’re doing it. We don’t need to know. Why are you willing to carry this for him?  

I don’t wanna calm her down. And I would be with her. I’m like, I’m with you. You can do this.  And then I would say, let’s make a list of things to try. Let’s go ask more questions. Let’s crowdsource some answers, which means going into a, large group of people and saying, Hey, how many of you have dealt with bats before? 

And those are the steps You don’t wanna tell yourself you’re crazy. You don’t wanna tell yourself that, you know,  it shouldn’t be happening and it shouldn’t be this hard. You wanna say, Hey, this is happening. This is awful. It is a very heavy cross and I’m willing  to carry it.  

And there’s something here, there’s some learning here, there’s some lesson here that God is asking me to see,  and I want to know what it is and I’m gonna solve this problem. 

So. I want this episode  just to live, so anytime one of these situations comes up, I can be like, Hey, I have an episode for you  about dealing with prolonged, awful things. You know, especially the ones where we like, we thought we got it and then we didn’t, and then we have to like gear up and do all the things again. 

But God does not want us to have panic or pressure in our bodies or think that something is wrong  or something’s wrong with us.  He wants us to trust him. He wants us to get outta the boat and stand on the water and just be like, all right, Lord, what are we doing? I trust you. This is scary. I’m just gonna keep looking at your face.

So  I guess it’s a shorter episode, but I don’t really have anything else to say about that, except I love you. Being a human is hard, and we’re all in it together. Lean on your friends, you know, maybe message your friends and just say, you guys, I’m really dealing with this right now. Is there any way that someone can bring me dinner this week? 

And that would require such humility to ask that question. But you know, some mom would be like, yeah, I’m making lasagna. I’ll make two lasagnas and I’ll bring one over for you. I think often the lesson that God wants us to learn is how to ask for help, and it’s really difficult for us to do that. 

So I’m praying for all of you that are dealing with my slights, termites, mold.  Any of these yucky things, bats  that are, feel like infestations and feel like they’re invading your personal space. That’s why it’s so terrible. It feels like a violation of something that should be safe. 

So  it’s not that you’re overreacting. I just think that the way that we are reacting is in the wrong place. So it is really as awful as it seems, but we just wanna then channel that into this is a really heavy cross and I will carry it for the Lord, not spiraling out of control and then  trying to problem solve from a stress state, which I hope by now, if you’ve been listening to this podcast for any amount of time, you know that we here do not problem solve from a stress state. 

All right, my friends, I’m praying for you. Please pray for me. Thank you so much for listening and have a blessed day.