ABIDE. REMAIN. STAY.: Victory is Sweet!

In my last post I shared how God is bringing back to mind the importance of STAYING CALM. I have had many opportunities to do this as all 3 of our crazies are off their rockers from the sickness we just experience. We refer to the stomach flu as the "Death Plague." It is the sickness that we find to be the hardest on us as a family.
So the sweet victory is in this very classic story.
I was giving our boys baths. We like to keep them split up. They get less water and their own space. We have found we are better parents for bath time at the end of the day if we set ourselves up for success by eliminating as much conflict as possible. Baths.
I walk in to check on #2.
Me: How is it going buddy
#2: Mom can I have bubbles?
Me: No, not this time.
#2: ahhhhhhh (as I am walking out to go check on the other kid.)
I am not joking 3 minutes later! I walk into check on my #2 to find that he has dumped out all of my shampoo and body wash. Two items he has never touched in our bath before. The thought running through my mind is, "You have got to be kidding me!" I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to lay on him the weight of the situation. "I can't just use any shampoo I have special shampoo for my skin issues. It was only suave body wash ($1.97) but I was so thankful to have it and was using it one small pear of soap at a time. I don't have a dime to go get more of these things. I guess I am using dish soap to wash myself!!!" All of which would have been incredibly inappropriate. He is 3. So what if I don't have money to buy soap in this season of our life. What good would it do to lay that on him when all he is going to take from be flying off the handle is Mom is angry at me and I just wanted bubbles.
What I did was calmly stand him up and pull him out of the bath.
I said, " #2 you just poured out all of Mommy's soap. I can not clean myself at my bath time with out that soap you just poured out. Was that a good choice or a bad choice."
#2: But I wanted bubbles.
Me: It was a bad choice, you may not make bubbles yourself after Mom says no. Your bath is over and you will have a long time out in your bed for disobeying me.
#2: Weeping and Whaling!
He never even got it. He was never sorry I didn't have soap! Would that have been nice? Yes. Does that happen sometimes? Yes. It is an unrealistic expectation for me to think that he would ever get the money issues (inappropriate to complain to him about that) and if we had the money it wouldn't have felt like such a big deal. It was $8 lost on childishness and disobedience.
I am telling you, after I put him in bed and went back to the bath to clean up I died laughing. It really is funny! As I laughed I got so excited! I did it! I STAYED CALM! It was the POWER OF CHRIST RISEN FROM THE DEAD keeping me calm.
I say this often when God helps me be a good mom. I know myself and I have seen the ugliness of my heart (So has my family) and it is so exciting that the same power that raised Christ, parted the Red Sea and multiplied the loaves and fish is working in me to walk in the Spirit instead of my flesh! I feel so privileged to be a child of God with that kind of power at my disposal.