Ethan had a huge meltdown on me yesterday, George was at the FD so I was on my own. Before he had his surgery, he had meltdowns all the time and boy were those two years torture but since his surgery he’s been great. He’s sick now so we’ve had a couple of outbursts recently. I was making them a smoothie yesterday when my blender broke so I told them I couldn’t make any and he exploded. “I want a smoothie!” I swear he shouted it a 1,000 times. It took forever to get him calmed down and I tried every intervention possible. So in the evening we talked about the importance of wearing the armour of God everyday in our battle against sin. This morning when I was having my quiet time, it just so happened that my devotion was on Galations 5:17. (just so happened? Nah. Any good Calvinist doesn’t believe in coincindences:) So I shared what I had studied with Ethan during our devotions at breakfast. We talked about the battle that always rages between our sinful nature and the spirit as long as we are on this earth and how we resist the sinful nature. My devotional by Martin Luther said “It’s as if Paul was saying “It’s impossible to follow the Spirit as your leader in all situations without the sinful nature interfering. The sinful nature will get in the way so that you can’t do what you really want to do. At that point, it’s enough to resist the sinful nature so that you won’t gratify its desires. Follow the Spirit, not the sinful nature, which quickly becomes powerless because it’s so impatient. It doubts, complains, seeks revenge, hates God, fights against him, and despairs.”
I read this to him and discussed what it meant for his life. His heart seemed open to discussing it and we talked about strategies to help him when he gets upset so that he does not give into sin.
Without struggles in our life we will not know about our need for Christ’s redemptive work for us so while I would like to protect him from the problem he has with intense feelings, I know that God is using this to show Ethan his need for him. God takes us all down different roads to bring us to himself and to refine us and at this point in Ethan’s young life, his intense emotions are a big struggle for him. I pray each day that the Spirit will make his heart tender to what God is teaching him and that he would learn to rely on the Spirit when he is upset rather than give in to his sinful nature.
“For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”
Galations 5:17
