help

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Gal 2:20 ESV

I have two daughters that are very different. I have a not so sensitive one and an overly sensitive one. Winter is very mischievous but a few seconds after a timeout or a spanking, she's fine. She doesn't let it get to her. She has probably come to expect punishment at least 5 times a day and she's okay with that.

Mya is my sweetheart but she gets her feelings hurt so easily. She cries pretty frequently. And it's not that she wants attention. She just feels things deeply. And toward the end of the day when she is tired and hungry around 4:30, it is pretty easy to make her cry. What usually happens is that she doesn't listen and is told to go have a timeout. That's when she completely loses it. And no amount of threats or spankings or anything will make her stop crying. I usually send her up to her room until she calms down. Sometimes she stops after a while and comes back down, sometimes she falls asleep and sometimes she just carries on and on and on and gets so worked up that I have to hold her for a while until she is okay. Dan and I have learned that with Mya, a hug will fix almost anything.

But sometimes we are just too frustrated with her to sit down and give her a hug. A lot of the time we resort to yelling, "Stop crying!" And that of course does not help the situation, ever.
One time when I was reaching my boiling point with her, I yelled, "Mya, I am about to lose it! Please. Just. Stop. Crying! Stop Crying!"

Her reply immediately changed my anger into sympathy. She cried, “I can't stop! I want to but I can't!”

I knew what she was saying because I've been there too. She wanted to stop crying but she just couldn't without some help. So I sat down with her and held her until she stopped crying.

Now that I'm a mom, I have a lot of behavioral issues, not with the kids, with myself! Often, I think of Mya and her honesty in that moment. Sometimes we can't stop what we're doing without help from Jesus. 

Any behavior that is hard to change whether it is anger, jealousy, selfishness, pride or sadness is totally changeable when we let Jesus work through us and help us fix it. Let's read that verse again.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Gal 2:20 ESV