Two weeks before my daughter’s wedding, I received this text regarding our rental house, “The house has bed bugs, but I’m sure it will be fine before you get here.”
Wait...what? Uh, no.
I am a planner. It’s what I do for my job as an executive assistant to look at the big picture of an event and pull out all the details that need attention. Helping my daughter with her wedding plans were no different so I reserved a house for the six of us for wedding week, months in advance (the wedding was several states away), and now those plans just got eaten up by bed bugs.
I’m not a huge fan of change, but I am also not a huge fan of itching at my daughter’s wedding and possibly bringing bugs back to my home. A few phone calls later I received my money back from my fully paid reservation and booked a hotel, sans bed bugs.
Why is it in the last few weeks leading up to a wedding there is a level of chaos and last minute changes? Family drama, the venue not returning our calls, bed bugs…
I texted a dear friend and mentor and asked her to pray. I was struggling to not be entirely enveloped by the drama and chaos. I had purposed in my heart that when the big day comes I want to be fully present as the mother of the bride. I don’t want to be THAT mom that misses all the joy and excitement of the day because of details. My mentor agreed to pray and encouraged me to place scripture or a quote as a background on my phone of that would remind me to stay in the center of God’s peace.
Brilliant.
One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him (me) in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he (I) trusts in you” (I like to personalize it so it’s more of a confession over my soul). Every time I looked at my phone I was reminded to stay in peace. Trust the Lord. He has my best interest at heart. He loves me. He has good things for me. He loves my daughter and her future husband and has ordained this day for His good pleasure.
Having a verse on my phone acted as a trigger to align my heart to His. And honestly, how many times do we look at our phones each day? It also helped me to see God’s mercy through it all. It allowed me to press into gratitude and realize God’s mercy that WE did not discover the bed bugs, but had a full 2 weeks to find alternate lodging.
We can choose to let chaos and drama act act the trigger for us to react to life’s hurdles, or we can let the perfect words of God act as the trigger for us to re-align with His purpose and presence. It’s our choice. What reminder do you need throughout the day? Find one online or use the image above to put on your phone. Comment in the box below to let me know how it has helped you.
You matter, dear friend. Your story matters. Fight for peace as you live out your story.