Bon Voyage?

A few weeks ago I flew alone with my barely one-year-old son from our home in California to where our extended family live in Maryland. We flew a few days before my husband was finished with work so I could spend some extra time helping my mom get ready for Christmas.

Q is no stranger to traveling. He's been taking road trips since before he was a month old and this was his 5th cross country flight and it was the 2nd that I had done with him without my husband. He had always been an excellent traveler but that didn't keep the ball of anxiety from growing heavy in the pit of my stomach as the day of our flight approached.  Something told me that now that Q is weaned and very mobile, that this flight might be more challenging than previous trips.

The key to traveling with young children (actually, the key to surviving with young children) seems to be patience, and lots of it. Unfortunately, patience is not typically a strength of mine and it has been a virtue that God continually tests me on as a mother. Knowing this, and anticipating that this trip might require an extra measure of patience, I prayed that even if Q gave me good reason, that I would not lose my cool with him and that I would show love and compassion to my son while also being as considerate as possible to other travelers.

I had confidence that God would provide this for me because of a passage I had recently studied in scripture. 1 John 5:14-15 says, "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."

In the past, I have had difficulty with this passage because, well, how I am supposed to know what is in God's will? I might pray earnestly for something that never happens because it wasn't part of His will.  So what exactly can I have confidence in? Then it dawned on me several weeks ago as our pastor was talking about praying for the fruit of the Spirit in his loved one's lives. I know that it is God's will for me to become more like Him and to demonstrate the "fruit" of my relationship with Him ("But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23). And I know that God has the power to do things through me which I am not capable of on my own, such as keeping my cool for 10 plus hours of travel with an exhausted one-year-old and no help. So I can be confident that He will empower me when I request His help in demonstrating any of those virtues.

I am pleased to report that despite a miserable trip, with God's help, I did not lose my patience with my son.  Throughout the flight I felt calm and capable of handling what my son was doling out.  I did apologize to those around me and tried to demonstrate my efforts at being considerate as well as loving.  And I am so thankful for the very gracious people sitting near me on both of my completely full flights!

God even offered me some much needed encouragement through the mouths of other passengers.  I had several other travelers come up to me after both of my flights to compliment me on my parenting. Seriously, who compliments the parenting of a woman whose child just wailed for the last hour of the plane ride?!? But, thank you kind strangers, your encouragement helped me get through a trying day! And my prayer is that God recieved the glory for any good parenting that was noticed because it was only due to answered prayer that I made it through that day!

When relating my story to my mother after arriving safe and sound in Maryland, she laughed and asked if I had ever heard of the saying 'Never pray for patience' because God will give you an opportunity to use it. He sure gave me an opportunity that day, but I do not regret asking. I do not regret asking because He faithfully provided and I am more like Him now than I was before that trip.

Do you struggle with any of the fruit of the Spirit like I do? If so, I challenge you to pray with confidence for that virtue and watch how God will refine your character.  And while you are at it, you can be praying for an extra measure of patience for me on my return trip to California soon...