God has blessed me with a couple of victories in the past couple weeks. I recognized them, but then life kept bustling on. I was convicted the other day to really stop and spend some time giving heartfelt thanks and also just giving space in my busyness for remembering the goodness of God.

I’m reading through 2 Kings as part of my devotions and one thing I see over and over is forgetfulness. Not stopping to remember and give praise and dwell on God’s provision and grace. And in looking at my own life, I was seeing the same patterns. So, I don’t want to just write down my struggles and failings…but document the victories too!

The first victory I saw was in our son Weston. Now, Weston is six but he has the eating skills more of a toddler. It’s a long story as to how this came to be a struggle (I wrote about some of it here), but it’s been a constant battle. One particular battle has been in getting him to eat chicken nuggets. I know…not the most nutritious battle, but God has used this struggle to humble my heart big time in my ideas of being a “good” mom. Anyway, I have been trying and not succeeding or even making progress in this battle for at least a year (probably longer). I had laid aside this particular battle for a while now. Until, I decided to “randomly” buy some chicken nuggets last week. But now I know that wasn’t random, but a prompting from God. Because I put not one but TWO chicken nuggets in front of my son and for the first time EVER, he ate every. single. bite. He even dipped them in ketchup and declared that he liked them (HIGH praise from our Weston)…and then, he requested them for lunch the next day! That is absolutely unheard of from this kid! And that part of my mind and heart that is devoted to thinking/worrying/praying about Weston’s eating, relaxed a bit. This is a HUGE victory and a HUGE blessing!

The second victory is more of a personal battle. I mentioned before that I sometimes struggle with anxiety and I’m slowly starting to learn and acknowledge some of my triggers. Well, one of them is doctors offices…or even calling them to make appointments. I’ve ignored this for years. But my kids are all (over) due for check-ups. One thing that I have started to realize just recently, is that the huge upside to acknowledging (instead of ignoring) my struggles is that I can PRAY about them and trust God IN them. You might be saying, “duh Jess”…but it’s been a transforming lesson for me. Anyway, so I started praying and I called and made the appointments (side note, making doctors appointments for five kids with two last names is a real treat {sarcasm}). Then, I started praying about the appointments. Specifically, that God would calm my heart. I’ve never necessarily had a panic attack in relation to a doctors appointment…but I get really tightly wound beforehand and then exhausted afterwards. My boys had their appointment earlier this week and I was just trusting God with whatever happened. If my body went into panic mode or not. But God, in His kindness, brought such peace to my heart, mind, and body with so many tiny details working together, and for the first time in a very long time, I felt no panic or exhaustion. Praise God! And even if it’s different next time, I want to remember this time and praise Him no matter what. Because ALL the glory goes to Him!

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for the sake of Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.” Psalm 115:1-3