On Faith & Family: When the zombie apocalypse strikes the family
On Faith and Family
–By Leah Gibson of Paso Robles
My husband and I have two kids under three who are thirteen months apart. I realize I’m the mom, so this is probably bias, but they are ADORABLE. They have their moments for sure, (as we all do,) but if you could warrant a trophy for cute…ahem. Ding ding! We have a winner folks!
Unfortunately, these guys are so cute and so good at what they do, sometimes they tend to be workaholics and forget to eat and sleep. If you’re a parent, you know exactly what I’m talking about…I’m talking full-on, working all night long, graveyard, taking shifts, toothpicks in the eyes kind of stuff. My husband and I were walking zombies.
Leah Gibson
Our oldest son Grant is now 2 ½. Although we were overjoyed when we first brought that guy home from the hospital, my husband and I looked like horror film extras. If I tried, I could have coined the saying “bags under the eyes” as legit and stored my wallet and keys in there instead of carrying a purse. My husband spent many hours on his knees beside our son’s crib begging God for just one hour of blissful, uninterrupted sleep.
During this time, I would frequently spend the afternoon visiting with my dear friend and neighbor who had two little boys-one just a few weeks older than my firstborn. She was doting over my son, asking me questions about how things were going as a new mom, his birth and how we came up with his name. I filled her in on all the details and we laughed and continued to talk for several minutes. Suddenly, she asked me what my son’s middle name was.
I froze.
I was so sleep-deprived, I couldn’t remember!
Not wanting to win the worst mother of the year award, I came up with this crazy long story about how we named him Grant Ryan because Ryan is my husband’s middle name.
Literally like twenty minutes later, I remembered Grant’s middle name was not Ryan, but Isaac and with red cheeks, I admitted this to my friend who laughed so hard she nearly lost it. To this day she still teases me about how impressed she was with the story, I spun on that horrifying day when I forgot my son’s middle name!
Turns out, we humans need rest. Spiritual rest and physical rest. If we don’t get it, things go south pretty quickly.
Some weeks the kids tag team and we don’t get the sleep that we need. Other weeks are crazy and I don’t make time to be in God’s word or pray. When that happens, I’m short-tempered, cranky, selfish and I don’t have the strength to disciple my kids well because I haven’t been staying rooted in Christ myself. Maybe you’re there with me and you don’t feel like you can take another step.
Matthew 11:28 (NIV) says this: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Another great reminder about rest in God’s word is found in Psalm 121:1-4: (NIV) I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Behold, the Protector of Israel will not slumber or sleep.”
God is sufficient. He’s fully able to bear our burdens, fully sovereign over each moment in our lives and fully able to forgive sin if we will only let go and trust Him.
