2/40

Rainbows and Unicorns everywhere!! This was the theme for Lorelai’s 5th birthday party last March. We had spent months planning and preparing for the occasion, and I am not sure who was more excited, the birthday girl or her party planning loving mother! Anyone who knows me well, knows that organizing an event with a theme fills me with an unusual amount of energy and passion! I come by it honestly as my mother is fondly, and appropriately, known as “the theme Queen” and my mother-in-law could outfit a themed event before you could even complete an initial Pintrest search. Between the three of us, my girls have had some incredible birthdays. However, the down side to our passionate planning, is that every detail becomes really important. For this particular party, the only way to fit all of the guests and rainbow-unicorn activities at our house was to have the majority of the party outside. Invitations were sent, Amazon boxes lined the entry way, decorations were cut and prepped, and the menu was planned. Lorelai was giddy with joy. It was the week before the event, and I checked the weather….Rain….So Much Rain…my phone was mocking my meticulous planning with little icons of lightening and clouds covering the entire weekend of our outdoor celebration. I had a little panic, searched for a backup venue in vain, and finally went to Lorelai and told her that there was a chance of rain. We sat together and prayed. We asked that God would bring us clear skies for her birthday or show us the perfect Plan B. Now, I admit that my words were full of faith that it would all work out while I prayed with her, but in my heart I was worried and plotting and planning and trying to figure out what I could do to make everything perfect for the day, not ever truly stopping to consider what the Lord would do. Every day, I checked my phone, some days a sunshine would appear, but then it would go right back to a cloud or lightening. I was driving myself crazy checking it and continuously praying from a place of worry instead of a place of faith. Finally, I realized that the Lord was not going to give me an answer until I truly left it in His hands. He was the only one who knew the weather and could control it. My frantic phone checks and faithless prayers were accomplishing nothing. He whispered “I got this. Trust me more than your weather app. Keep preparing to celebrate your daughter and let Me handle the rest.” So, I did. I got everything ready. We didn’t check the weather again. On the day of the party, I woke up and knew that the rain from the night before and the clouds in the sky did not look good. But the party would not start until 2pm, and there was still a chance that we could continue as planned. I decided that I should check my app for the hourly report and make a final call on whether or not we would pack everyone inside, or if I could go in the yard and start hanging decorations. When I opened the app, I could not help but laugh. There were pictures of partial cloud coverage with sunshine everywhere all morning and early afternoon… then there it was, 2 o’clock with a 40% chance of rain. I knew the Lord was laughing and telling me, that I was not going to get a way with having a definite answer until the party started. I was going to have to trust Him until the very last minute. My ability to control the situation did not change just because we were closer to the event, I still needed Him, and we had never developed a very strong Plan B. So, I decorated with muddy feet and a heart of faith that He truly did care about such a small thing as a five-year old’s birthday party. I believed that He was going to use this trivial situation to teach me how to pray in faith when the odds are against me, trusting that He is fully in control. There is never a minute where my planning is more powerful than His. I knew then that 1:59 would not mean that I needed to take over and make it happen. He was still there, and my job was still to rely on Him. 2’oclock came, Lorelai eagerly welcomed her guests in her rainbow dress complete with unicorn headband, and she led them outside to enjoy a beautiful day of celebration. As we walked into our backyard, I was so excited to show her that it was not raining! However, she wasn’t surprised. Her childlike faith had never wavered from the first prayer. She knew He would come through, and now I do too. Throughout the day of celebration, one more decoration appeared in the sky, a rainbow. I guess I get my attention to detail and desire to make my children smile from Him as well. He is the true Theme King! The theme of loving us is in every detail, even when things don’t turn out the way we planned, sometimes His plan B is better than our Plan A. Since March, He has been reminding me of this lesson. In the little moments like getting Lorelai’s Kindergarten class list and realizing that she did not get the teacher or friend she wanted only to get a reminder from the school that the list would not be finalized until school actually started, He just speaks to my heart and says “2 o’clock with a 40% chance of rain.” Then I relax and simply hand it over to Him in peace and stop trying to control it in panic. And when the first day came and she had the friend she wanted and the teacher we did not expect but was a perfect fit in such specific ways that I could never have planned, I saw our rainbow. I know that my kids are growing and that the ways that I will want to keep them from disappointment and pain will grow exponentially and that the Lord is teaching me this now so that He can whisper our inside weather report phrase at a time when the situation is much more dire than a party or Kindergarten schedule, and I am so thankful that He is preparing me to trust Him in every detail along the way.