A Big Answer to Prayer!

*For those of you who are SICK of hearing potty-training stories, feel free to skip this one. But it’s such a cool reminder that God cares!  This is mostly just for my sake of remembering!

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It just continues to floor me that God is intimately involved in the most mundane details of our lives. I am amazed that He is so creative He can use potty-training — POOP, of all things!– to bring us nearer to Him and show us His love.

So ya’ll know I was pretty discouraged after our initial round of potty training. Saturday was no better.  He just was not getting it, and the straw that broke the camel’s back was as I was late to church, having held him over the toilet for ages waiting for him to go, only to finally be done, get him dressed, walk out to car and find that he’d peed his pants again.

So last night I stayed up late again, but this time just praying that God would please just show me what to do–drop it, keep it up, etc.  Two things came to mind–one was a great article about why letting kids be naked from the waist down really helps them potty-train–because when they have underwear they get confused because it feels like they have a pull-up on. So they suggested going totally naked.  Well since we would be spending 4.5 hours at church today I could hardly pull that one off, but I figured when we were at home I’d give it a try.

The second was that we couldn’t find anything that would really motivate Dutch.  I’d thought of spanking, but I just felt like that wasn’t a right move right now–it would motivate him to be sure, but I felt like it wasn’t the right kind of motivation because this wasn’t outright defiance, it was more of stubbornness (sort of defiance) mixed with fear mixed with trying to learn a new skill.  But there was just nothing positive I could find to motivate him. He got embarrassed when we cheered for him, he didn’t care about treats or candy, matchbox cars are old news.  The one and only thing he is totally crazy obsessed with is Thomas the Train.  His friend Cody has the complete set, with tracks on a train table, and for the Rose Bowl we were at their house and no joke, Dutch played upstairs, all by himself, on that train table with Thomas the Train, for FIVE hours straight.  He didn’t even eat.  He’s totally obsessed with those trains.  But those little guys are spendy.  I’d gone to Target to get him one and they’re $15-20 each! Yikes! And a train table is at least $100 too.  Anyway, pray pray pray, well last night I finally have this ephiphany–Craigslist!  But usually the downside of Craigslist is that you find exactly what you want… in Battleground, WA or Forest Grove or somewhere else you don’t want to drive.  So I found a bunch of trains in remote locations, but they were still spendy–$100 for a collection of them.  I found a set with a train table–for $350.  Gulp.  Then, just when I’m about to quit, I see two listings–with Thomas collections: for $15 each!  Location: West Linn.  No way. I email. Close the laptop, pray, go to sleep.

Then this morning, I go to church and somehow (because God is amazing and we have a pastor who preaches His Word!), God totally speaks to me through a message in Nehemiah of all places! I’m pretty sure Nehemiah was not thinking about potty training when he was speaking to the king about restoring the walls of Jerusalem, but it was a kick-your-teeth-in message about perseverance and waiting on the Lord.  He spoke at length about persevering through the battles–how just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s not God’s will, in fact that usually means it IS God’s will!  He spoke about what to do when we don’t know what to do.  Joel said: When you know the What, but you don’t know the How, that’s when you go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him for the how and wait on Him to show you. He also gave an illustration about how we pound and pound a kick at locked doors, striving and stressing and crying and whining, instead of praying and waiting for God to miraculously do his *click*–unlock the door and open it right before us.  It applied on so many levels, but I knew that had been me–angry, frustrated, pounding at that stupid potty training door, about to knock it down I was so mad. Then He shared about how God took the worst day in history (Good Friday), and turned it into the best day in history (Easter).  In a matter of days, God turned the worst worst into the best best. It can all change in a day.  Hmm…ok I know this is WAY ridiculous to compare potty-training to the crucifixion of the Son of God, but I admit I did have the thought–ok, Friday was by far the worst day of parenting I’ve had to date…I wonder if today could be resurrection Sunday?!

So we came home, I took off every stitch of clothes Dutch had on, and we played and talked about Thomas the Train. I even showed him pictures of the collection on Craigslist, and sure enough–he could name every one and was so excited he could hardly stand it.  Then, the lady emailed me back to my amazement she lived less than a mile from us!  So after another meeting we had at church, I swung by her house, happily paid the $30 and toted my brown paper bag worth its weight in gold, back to the car. (BTW, when I paid the woman she said she’d been reading my blog!  How fun is that?!)  When I got back home I told Dutch what was in the bag and I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head.  We kept him naked all day, and sure enough–he peed (and pooped!), all by himself, on his own initiative, all day long. We had one accidents, but he earned 7 new trains (and we still have many more to give!).  You would have thought Dutch won the lottery the way he go so excited for his trains.

Then, after we put Dutch to bed, my parents called and said they found a train table for $25 on Craigslist… in West Linn!  They said they’d buy it for Dutch (to get after a week of successful potty-training), if we picked it up. We called–the woman lived walking distance from our house. It was comical.  Jeff and I were just shaking our heads. And she had advertised that it wasn’t in great shape and I have no idea what she was talking about because it is brand new–absolutely brand new, beautiful, even with drawers underneath to stow things.

ANYWAY, obviously this isn’t the end of potty training.  And yes, eventually we will run out of trains, so we’ll see what happens then. But this is a huge answer to prayer.  And what amazes me is how God weaves all of it together. He knew I’d be frustrated, discouraged.  He knew I’d need to run to Him. He knew I’d hear this sermon. He loves my son so much He provided a dream-come-true train collection for him. And He loves me so much He was and is willing to take me through the process to show me more of His love, His character, His tender care for me.

Thanks for ya’ll listening to me along this journey. I know it’s “only” potty-training, but our good God numbers the hairs on our head and even cares about the little bottom of my three-year-old boy.  Glory to God.