Daily Bread. Big battles before breakfast.

Here’s what I love: daily bread.

This morning, my bible reading was in 1 Chronicles. Chapter 5 to be exact. Just a few sentences stuck out to me—

They cried out in battle.

He answered their prayers.

Because they trusted in Him.

I took note of these verses—maybe because they were different from the whole list of tribes and sons and heads of households. I thought, there’s clearly a good message here—cry to the Lord, He answered their prayers because they trusted in Him. But, I am not fighting the Hagrites and actually, my life is quite calm right now. But, since the Spirit wanted me to take note of these verses, I wrote them down.

Then, the day began.

Here’s what I hate: big battles before breakfast.

My eight year old had picked up an old Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen book from the Library—one from when they were cute little tweens. It was about a sleep-over and that’s all I knew. But, this morning, after she had finished the book, she began telling me about it:

“At the sleep-over, Mary-Kate divulged to the group of girls that she had kissed a boy! Ashley was so jealous…”

Wait, what!? I’ve already been disturbed by my innocent little 8-year old’s obsession with kissing which began after watching pretty much any Disney animated film in which there is always kissing in the end. I questioned her some more about the book and then skimmed some of the pages. There was even mention of a Ouija board! (Fortunately, Abbey didn’t even ask what it was and the story didn’t actually use said object of witchcraft.) Ug! I can’t believe that I let her read this book! I calmly told her that fact and said that she would not be allowed to read the next book in the series. Her response came in the form of angry tears and storming off. She then refused to come back when I called her, which earned her more discipline and evoked even more tears. And this was all before breakfast!

I tried to explain to her that she was too young to be focused on kissing and boys etc. and that I didn’t want her reading about such things. She said she wasn’t focused on kissing and boys—that she just liked the sleepover story. Maybe that was true—the book ended innocently enough. HOWEVER, I have decided that a little bit of trash is still trash. It’s like an illustration I heard about recently when a mother was arguing with her teenaged son about seeing a PG-13 movie. His argument was that there was only a little bit of cursing in it. That evening, to prove her point, the mother made a delicious chocolate silk pie. It was her son’s favorite. She offered it to him before dinner. He was so excited about having dessert before dinner, but he was also a little puzzled.

“Why do we get to have dessert before dinner?” He asked.

“Oh, I thought it would be fun,” the mother answered, “but I did put a little bit of dog poop in it.”

The son stopped with the fork half-way to his mouth. The mother encouraged him—

“It’s okay, it’s just a little bit.” The mom quoted.

You get the idea.

As I was arguing about the book with my daughter, I thought of that illustration and realized that I am in a battle after all—not against the Hagrites as the Israelites were, and NOT against my daughter, but I am battling for an unpolluted spiritual land where my children can live peacefully. Just as the Israelites battled for physical land, I am fighting for spiritual ground—striving to help my daughters stay pure.

After the book argument, Alexis came downstairs dressed in her favorite polk-a-dot dress with yellow leggings. The problem was the leggings had horrible holes in the knees. I had actually thrown them away, but she must have retrieved them from the trashcan upstairs. I nonchalantly suggested that she go put on shorts or bloomers under her dress instead of the torn up yellow leggings. I got the idea that she didn’t like this suggestion when she suddenly launched into a huge fit in which she threw a pair of bloomers down in a huff and begged to wear the holey leggings.

I sat down on the coffee table. My daughters are 5 and 8. What will things be like when they are 13 and 16!? If we are fighting over clothes and books already, what will we be fighting over then!? Drugs and Pimps!? I put my head in my hands and couldn’t hold in the tears. I cried. I cried out to the Lord.

Later, I spoke to my mom on the phone. I told her about my fears of what it would be like when they are older if we are having these sorts of issues now. I told her that I wasn’t strong enough to raise them.

“I know,” my oh-so-wise mother answered, “but God is strong enough.”

I remembered the scripture from that morning: I had definitely cried out to Him in “battle.” And I realized that I needed to now trust Him who is stronger. I believe He will answer my prayers and win the battles that will lead to my daughter’s spiritual growth. When I acknowledge He is stronger by crying out to Him, He is so quick to respond!

Thank goodness the sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh trusted in God for this battle. Thank the Lord it was written down, canonized into scripture and presented as my daily Bible reading this morning. It’s all part of God’s plan to help me trust Him even more.