Last Wednesday JDaniel and I headed up north with my sister Michelle from Atlanta’s family to visit my sister Kate in New York’s family.
I knew it was going to be a long car trip. Each family and each member of each individual family was going to come into the trip with their own needs, plans, and timetable.
I tried to anticipate everything Jdaniel would need for the car trip and I asked my mom, who lives in the same town I do, what she would need. I spent time trying to think of every scenario that I thought could and how to be prepared for it.
There was:
A bag of snacks and cooler of drinks.
A bag of activities and a few of JDaniel’s sleepy time friends
The iPad had a few new apps on it and JDaniel got new headphones for the trip.
A backpack contained a change of clothes, bathing suit, and towels for a planned stop at a pool.
I tried to have everything under control.
Preparing for Unplanned Events
Before we left I was reminded by our pastor in his Sunday sermon that , I wasn’t really going to be in total control of the events of the trip. Despite all my planning, things were going to happen or be said that I couldn’t control.
There were going to be six people in the car and I wasn’t going to be able to make decisions for anyone, but me. (Although JDaniel was going to given a lot of guidance.)
The pastor mentioned that God would really be the only one that would be in control and that I needed to lean on His understanding and not my own.
Other people in the car would say and do things that I could over think, react badly too, and not anticipate. I have done that on other trips before.
So after I packed each bag I sent up a prayer.
After I packed the bag of snacks and cooler of drinks, I prayed that we would feel refreshed by our time together and be filled with deliciously wonderful memories.
After I packed the activity bag, I prayed that we would be comfortable with each other and that our words would actively help us grow together as a family.
After I packed the swimming backpack, I prayed that the activities that we would do on this trip fun for all and that we would try to put others first.
Finally with all the bags and our suitcase of clothes packed, I prayed that I would be consistent with JDaniel in what I expect from him. Once we met up with my sister Kate from New York, there were going to be four moms on this trip. Each with different expectations and ways of interacting with their children. I really wanted to be the best mom for the one child I am a mom too and a good aunt to the four children that I am not a mom too.
We don’t get back until tomorrow afternoon! I promise I will let you know how the trip went. Just know that it was probably filled with more prayers of supplication and maybe a little repenting for things I tried to take into my own hands.
This post is linked to Pour Your Heart Out.
I hope you all had an excellent time! I’m sure it was filled with memories.
I hope you have an amazing time! Sometimes things don’t go us planned – But things happen for a reason 🙂
This is a wonderful post and I love your God-like attitude about it. We are leaving on a trip this week and I’m so glad I read this. It will help me keep things in the right perspective.
Have an amazing time!!!! How exciting
It’s sounds like you were as prepared as you could be. Hope you had a great time!
Hope yall have a wonderful trip! Can not wait to hear all about it
We always pray for safety when we get in the van, but I had not thought to pray while packing our bags. Maybe if I would have, Curly’s white church shirt wouldn’t have been left home this time!
Sandy
With all that preparation, I have to believe your trip was a great success!
=)
I hope the return trip went well. We are all enjoying the memories!
I hope you had the most amazing time!
I hope you had a great time and made many memories!
I hope you had a great time with family. I am sure that you made some amazing memories!
I hope you had a wonderful trip!
Have a great trip!
Stopping by from Shell’s PYHO!
Saying a prayer for you that you have a great trip!
It’s hard when we can’t control what will happen, but being prepared the best you can, and asking for a little help from above sure does help!
I love this idea of packing prayers into your packing. We are headed out soon for a 16 hour drive to see my brother and his family. Although we only have my hubbie and I, we still could use plenty of prayer for the trip.
Thank you so much for this idea, and I hope your trip was blessed with abundant laughter, joy and lots of grace!
I’ve prayed over our vehicle! LOL – but seriously so – but I’ve never literally packed prayer like you did – and I so love love love that! I know that feeling of preparing and planning in order to run interference – it’s a stressful thing. I like how you took care of that stress!
I want to come back and read this before we embark on our next road trip later this summer. I have also packed prayers before trips like this and it does make a world of difference. Lovely post.