I lost my cool in the middle of Chick-fil-A yesterday. 

Our youngest has been working through some sensory issues lately that have been really challenging to navigate, and sure enough, she decided to have a ginormous meltdown in the middle of the restaurant as soon as we got our food. 

My oldest, being the sweet kid she is, kept talking over me as I was trying to console her, offering all kinds of suggestions to try to help calm her down — but in my overwhelm and overstimulation, I whipped my head around and yelled, “NOT NOW, SAYDIE!” 

Yeah. Not my finest moment. 

And then came the heightened awareness that we were in a public place and me, a grown woman, had just made quite a scene. 

Great. So much for shining the light of Jesus wherever I am, right? 

But as quick as the guilt came over me, so did the kindness of the Holy Spirit, because He immediately reminded me that I could still fix this, even if I had just made a huge fool of myself. 

So I turned back around, put my hands on my daughter’s cheeks and quietly said, “I’m sorry, baby girl. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know you were just trying to help. You have such a heart of gold and I love that about you. Maybe next time you can just let mama handle it, okay?”

She nodded. I smiled. And we carried on with lunch like nothing ever happened. 

But the thing is, something did happen, and it’s not something I’m proud of. But it’s also something that God used to teach me a valuable lesson (because even at thirty years old, I’m still learning) —

God can use a mess to bear His Name just as much as a message. 

And while I hope the world sees more good examples from me than bad ones, I am so very grateful that He shows up just as faithfully in the apologies.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” James 5:16

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