Rejoicing?

I'll admit it, I've had a terrible attitude lately. I have been yelling at my kids, being rude to my husband, and overall have had a pity party for myself.

Today on the way home from church, #3 started singing, "This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made. I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad it it."

It hit home with me. In all my sulking, yelling, feeling sorry for myself, have I taken time to rejoice and be thankful that God has blessed me with another day with my sweet family?

I received a book in the mail yesterday that I ordered from Amazon. It is called Finding God in Autism. It is a devotional written by a parent of an autistic child and offers a 40 day challenge. I am going to take that challenge. It is time to change my ways and the autism issue hits at the heart of a lot of my frustration and anger.

Here is an excerpt from the book for day 1:
God wasn't answering my prayers like I thought he should. I wanted Him to wipe the autism and Neurofibromatosis out of our son's life. I wanted to wake up and have my son know how to talk! My prayers were heartfelt and my faith was larger than a grain of mustard seed...so where was God's power?

In time, I learned that most of the time, God's answers come when we take action. God wanted me to read Scriptures more, read books about autism, talk with doctors, therapists and do my research. I made a conscience choice to renew my mind with the Scriptures and hope returned. I asked God to transform my way of thinking. I asked God to let me see our son like He saw our son. I prayed to God to mold my way of thinking and bring me hope.

As I prayed, the bondage in my mind started to lose its grip. I started seeing our son's potential by looking at him like Christ sees him. He was not a lost, helpless soul. He is a child of God. Pray today and ask God to renew your mind. Return your hope. To see His will. Someway we will know how perfect His plan really is for our children and ourselves.

Oh God, please help me to rid my heart of this anger I feel inside. Your word says that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, so I know what is in my heart is not what You intended. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.