Ever have one of those days?
You know the days that nothing goes right?

Those days you say, “I cannot wait for this day to end.”

Those days you feel like if you can only get back in bed and start another day — new!

We all have those days, and let’s face it, none of us like them! It feels like everything you do goes wrong until it is funny. You often think, “What else can happen?”

Then…it does…it goes wrong!

This is one of those days.

SO MY (CHURCH BRAT) STORY begins:

I cook a lot! I love fixing good food for anyone that likes to eat! I can be happy cooking for only George or for 30+ people having a good time hanging out at my house. I do not even mind the clean-up.

Another thing I enjoy is cooking lunch for the people at the office (the church). I love that they look forward to a good lunch that I have made with them in mind. It could be a specialty sandwich or a big pot of spaghetti with a salad, or maybe any variety of homemade soup, which I love to make!

On this particular day, I brought lunch to the guys, Chicken Noodle Soup. I grilled the chicken, made my tasty chicken noodle soup base, and cut the carrots at a specific angle to make them look pretty. Super proud of how flavorful it was, and the colors were vibrant! I like using the different colors of carrots to make them look fresh and tasty. The kind that takes at least 4 hours to get it to perfection.

That day started out weirdly. I was just stumbling over myself for some reason. Before leaving the house, I packed up the food very carefully to take to the car and tripped, almost spilling a massive pot of soup on the garage floor. I gathered my composure as I put the lunch in the car. 

Then, I had to go back into the house to get some more of my things (I carry too many bags!) and so help me; I tripped going UP the steps from the garage to the house — now that takes talent! I got some more items from the house, went out the garage door with my arms full of things, and missed a few steps; and down I went landing on top of my bags. 

By this time, I was laughing so hard that I could barely make it back into the house for the rest of my bags.

Finally, I got all my things in the car and was ready to go to work, and as I opened up the car door, I tripped getting in the car. I should have just gone back into the house, closed the door, and not answered any calls until the day was over. But instead, I went to work. I was determined that the day was going to be better.

I made it through the entire day at the office with no significant incidents. Everyone got a great lunch of the homemade chicken noodle soup, and before I knew it, it was time for me to go home. I gathered my things, including the leftover chicken noodle soup from lunch, and I was in a hurry to leave. 

As I was coming down the steps, I heard voices talking in the foyer. My nephew, Jason, and the Schwan’s guy, Zach, were talking. Zach is always in a contest, and I am sure he was there to talk me into buying his contest product! I usually do! I love their food and buy it often, but that day, I had to do something before going home, and I didn’t want the items to thaw, so I wasn’t going to buy anything. 

As I was coming down the steps, I realized I had too many things to see where I was stepping. I have gone up and down those steps hundreds of times in the last (almost) 15 years. You would think I would know them by now. As I was coming down, I was telling Zach that I didn’t need anything.

I was in the middle of, “Sorry, Buddy, but I don’t want anything today; I am not going straight h……” Before I could finish my sentence, I took a step down, and I instantly knew that my feet had not hit a step, and I was sailing through the air! 

Chicken Noodle soup went everywhere! My bags were covered in the soup. My hair had noodles, celery, and carrots in it. As I tried to push up on my hands to get up from the floor, my hand would slip in the soup, and down I would go again! I landed on my knees, laughing so hard and sliding in that stupid soup, trying to get up. 

Poor Zach was horrified as he watched me (I felt like I was in a slo-mo movie) hit the floor. He was going to try to help me as I was falling, but I think he saw the Chicken Noodle soup in mid-flight, and he stepped back!

The look on his face was worth the fall down in the soup! He came to help me up, but when his shoes hit the soup on the floor, he almost fell, too, so he took a step back and was shouting for me to get up! I could hear him shouting, “Oh noooooooo, Wendy, are you ok?”

My sides were hurting from the fall, and laughing so much!!! I knew I would pay for that fall the next morning, and I was already dreading it, but it was so hysterical!

I knew that it was inevitable – I was taking a significant tumble before going to bed that night! And I did!

Sure enough, I got up the next morning sore and bruised like someone had beat me in different places, but my knees were really sore and had “skid marks” on them.

I hadn’t told George about the trick I did coming down the stairs, so when I showed him the bruises and my knees, he asked, “Why do your knees look like that?” 

I replied, “Some of us pray in this house. These are my ‘prayer knees’ now don’t you feel ashamed that your knees are not ‘prayer knees.'”

Without missing a beat he said, “What I am ashamed of is my wife lying to me about her prayer life!” 

I had nothing to say because I was laughing so hard. I am so glad I have a partner in life that can just shake his head in disbelief, laugh with me and still love me!

WHAT’S ON MY MIND?  GLAD YOU ASKED

This incident taught me a few things.

1. Make 2 trips if you have to and do not try to take everything in one trip, specially if you have soup!
2. When you cannot see, do not go down steps!
3. Sometimes in life, things get messy and you have a mess to clean up!

I think the Lord helped me see the lesson in this whole mess.

• When we think, “I got this,” usually we don’t.

• When we should ask for help, usually we don’t.

• When we cannot see where we are going in life, we usually trip and make a mess.

Psalm 37:23-24 The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.

Psalm 145:14-16 The LORD helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it. When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.

Have you ever made such a mess of your life that you just fall back down when you try to get up? Have you ever been in that place, and your friends, family, and/or church family want to help you, but they are unsure what to do, so they just ask, “Are you Ok?” They try to get close enough to help, but they find themselves slipping, too, and have to take a few steps back. They can still see us and know we need help, but they do not know HOW to help, and we continue to slip and slide through life.

There is a time, we have to get up!

• No matter how slippery it is! 
• No matter what got us there! 
• No matter how many times we try and fail!
• No matter how many people tried to help us and couldn’t.

Proverbs 24:16 for though a righteous man falls seven times, he will rise again, but the wicked stumble into calamity.

There is a time we have to realize that we cannot just try harder. We have to pray harder. We have to forget about WHY we fell to the bottom of our lives and pray our way to standing up! We have to forget how many times we tried and failed because there is the next try that gets us up. 

Psalm 63:7-8 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t have gone to the place we did. Perhaps we shouldn’t have given our time and energy to that relationship. Perhaps we shouldn’t have trusted that person. Maybe we shouldn’t have had our hands so full of the world that we couldn’t see the steps we missed that had us tumbling away from the Father. 

But, there is good news!

IT DOESN’T MATTER! None of those things matter.

Starting now: Live by God’s Word 

Proverbs 3:22-23 My son, do not lose sight of these— keep sound wisdom and discretion, Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble.

Psalm 119:165 Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.

Proverbs 4:11-13 I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life.

What does matter is that we look to the Father for help! He reaches out His big, strong, firm hand and helps us up. We can either take His hand and get up the easy way, or we can continue sliding in the mess we are in and falling and cannot get ourselves up and still call on Him. I call that the hard way! 

Nothing takes the place of the Holy Spirit. Nothing takes the place of prayer. Nothing takes the place of reading God’s Word. Nothing takes the place of gathering with other believers (yes, going to church in the building or in a field. It really doesn’t matter where you gather, just do it) where we can strengthen one another and encourage each other. 

Let me tell you something:  WE CAN NOT DO IT ALONE!  We need God. We need Godly, praying friends. We need to realize where we are and what we must do to get up and walk in life again. We need to know that when God’s hand reaches for us, He WANTS us to take it, even knowing the mess we are in with our lives.  TAKE HIS HAND!

Calm yourself in the presence of the Lord. Listen to this worship song before you pray.

PRAY THIS WITH ME TODAY (in your own words)I

Holy Spirit
I pray that You would come into each of our lives. Come into the room we are sitting in right now and with Your firm and loving hand, help us get up. Help us to move forward and not look back at where we were. Lord, let us look ahead to where You are taking us – hand in hand, we will walk together.

Lord, I want YOU! I realize I cannot do anything without You. I cannot get up without You. I will continue to fall without You.

In Jesus Name,

Amen