church

Does it seem to anyone else that Satan seems especially busy on Sunday mornings as we are preparing to go to church? I didn't notice it as a child although that doesn't mean it wasn't there; what I really remember is singing songs out of the hymnbooks for the 40 minute drive to church each week.


It only took me a few years of marriage to realize that Joel and I argued almost each Sunday morning! I also knew that it was my fault; I could almost feel myself becoming nit-picky and grumpy and annoying. I didn't know why I became like that; but I did. When I finally realized that this was a regular thing mainly on Sunday morning I started wondering why. I then saw that I was alowing Satan to use me; to disrupt Joel as he prepared to preach! Since then we have done what we could to make Sunday a more relaxing time where arguments don't belong. As we had children I had to plan ahead and have diaper bags ready, clothes laid out and shoes and socks sitting by the door so the stress of getting ready didn't give us something to argue about.

At the lake here in Malawi, church was just a stone's throw away and if the kids couldn't find their shoes they could just go without them. We each only had one church outfit unpacked too so finding something to wear was never a problem. Now we are in Lilongwe and suddenly today I realized that Satan might be looking for a foothold in our family once again.

The last two Sundays have been started with arguing and family frustrations as we look for shoes and figure out if falling down the steps in the yard (our yard has stairs)on a bike is reason enough to stay home; or if the real reason is because we still haven't found the shoes.

Today is the 2nd Sunday in a row where our attitudes have not been right and we seem almost eager to pick a fight. Satan used me in the past to cloud Joel's mind as he prepared to preach; I suppose now he can take his pick of our family; it only takes one to change the attitude of all of us pretty quickly.

Please remember to pray for us on Sunday mornings! Now that we realize again that this is a potential weakness for our family hopefully we can deal with it and be stronger than ever!