A case of the Mundays

Yesterday was one of those days...a Monday. But it went deeper than that. It was an unhealthy repetition of the week before...a week where my neighbor told me one afternoon that the day before she had felt sorry for me. (It was one of those cooler days when I had my windows open...and a day when my girls were constantly fighting with each other or with me, and little brother was continually crying about one thing or another, and I had a hard time with having enough patience.)

And yesterday morning it was more of the same. And I completely and utterly lost it. (Without the windows open this time...)

But somewhere in the midst of my insanity, I plead (begged, yelled, insisted) that God help me...

At that very moment (since I was cleaning...which was a source of much of the frustration..."But she has to help..." "But she's not helping..." "But it's too hard..."), 
I picked up this:

It's a Coke bottle from Ebenfeld's retired pastor, Gaylord's, Coke bottle collection. At his retirement celebration, he gave everyone in attendance a bottle. I tagged it with "Remember Grace"...the overarching theme of his last sermon.

God's voice in the exact moment of my raging lunacy gave me pause, and for a moment, complete clarity. That in my complete failure as a mom...as a representative of Jesus Christ...that there is grace.

There is grace for me, and in return, grace for my kids. Grace is what it's all about. It stopped me in my tracks, as I remembered exactly why Jesus paid it all.

Since receiving the bottle, it has been on this shelf above my desk. Now when I look at it, not only will I remember the church service I got it from, I'll also remember this day when God so clearly spoke His grace into my heart.

Where have you heard God's voice lately? Or seen Him working?