MIRACLE ON THE MAT!

OK... something funny just happened.

When my husband is out of town, I sleep on the couch, so I can be closer to all the children to rescue them if a bad guy breaks in.  Yes... I 'm a bit paranoid.

Last night, Jackson, my 11 yr. old, left his cell phone on the couch, and his alarm went off at midnight.  I turned it off and noticed that not only had he set the alarm for midnight, but he also set it for 12:30am, 1:00am, and 1:30am!  What in the world????  I asked him this morning why he would do that.

His response:  "Oh yeah!  I was going to hide the phone and trick myself during the night.  I would groan and be like, 'Oh I'm so tired.'  I would make myself frustrated and then wake up the next morning and laugh about it."  Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!  I can't stop laughing!!   The minds of children crack-me-up!!  I do have to confess though that in college I used to hide my treats in hopes that I wouldn't eat them all in one day.  That didn't work either... for some reason I kept finding them. :-)

My daily miracle has nothing to do with any of that... I just couldn't stop laughing, so I had to write it down.

As a 6th grader, Jackson only had 2 wrestling tournaments the whole season, and he had been practicing every day since the beginning of December.  He had a hand-full of matches in that time, but yesterday was the last of the 2 big tournaments.

Yesterday was also Jordan's first theater class; he's 7 yrs. old.  Since I home-school him, this was the only class he had ever taken that his siblings don't also take with him.  He was so excited, and I wanted to make this a special event for him as well.

Since my husband was out of town, I had to try to time it just right to try make it back and forth to the theater class (which was 25 minutes away) in between the wrestling matches.

The Bishop of our church also had a son wrestling yesterday, so I asked him to keep an eye out for when Jackson would wrestle.  I was on my way back from dropping Jordan off at his theater class when my Bishop sent a text saying that Jackson was up to wrestle next!  The snow was blowing hard, and I was still 13 minutes away.  I prayed harder to make it in time.  I could see that I wasn't going to make it, but it just seemed unfair that I would miss it by only a couple of minutes!

Right then, the thought came into my mind, "His Bishop is cheering for him.  If his parents can't be there, who better to cheer for him?"  Just as I was pulling in, I received another text from our Bishop, "He just finished.  Fought hard and should have won but lost on points 13-10 at the last minute."

My heart sunk.  I rushed in and quickly scanned the crowd to find my little Jackson.  There he was, being comforted by his Bishop... his church father.   My heart felt so much gratitude; our Bishop had cheered loudly and had taken video of his whole match.  God gave our family a tender mercy through our Bishop, but the miracle continued that day.

I was able to watch him win a match by pinning his opponent before I had to leave again to pick up Jordan from his play practice.

 I ran through the parking lot with babies hanging on each arm through the snow storm, piled in the van, and took off as fast as we could to make it there and back in time to watch Jackson's next match.  Then, again, just as I was almost back after driving for almost an hour, I received a text saying that Jackson was wrestling on the next available mat.

My heart sunk.  Being at these events for my children is what I do!  This is my life right now!  I didn't want to miss another one... especially since I was so close and trying so hard to be there.  Oh I prayed even harder this time.  I prayed with all my heart.

I parked the van, grabbed the baby, told Jordan to carry Juliana and run in with Mariah while I sprinted into the school.  I saw the Bishop, he pointed to the mat, and I pointed to the parking lot.  I squatted down right as Jackson walked onto the mat, and our Bishop ran outside to ensure the children made it in safely.  Before our Bishop could even come back in with my children, Jackson's match was over.

I thank God I was there because I was able to comfort him through the worst loss he'd ever had.  His opponent, which was also his teammate, pinned Jackson in 10 seconds.

Jackson's coach lifted both of the boys' arms as winners and then gave Jackson a big hug.  What a wonderful coach he is...

As we walked through the crowd after his loss, some parents were laughing about the match saying, "He didn't even have a chance... took him in 10 seconds flat!!"  Of course that hurt to hear especially since they were parents from his team!

Jackson and I left for a moment to have a special talk about losing and winning.  I had been consoling him, when his brothers found us.  They sprinted over to him yelling, "There you are!!"  They tackled  him and then lifted Jackson high in the air by grabbing each of his legs as if he were a champion.  Because to them, he was the champion!!!

It's so hard for a mother to see a child lose because we don't want them to feel bad about themselves, but God gave Jackson 3 miracles of love to buoy him up.

*Our Bishop literally was the father of his congregation and "fathered" our son when we could not at that moment.  What a blessing for Jackson to have his Bishop give him such one-on-one time of Christlike love.

*The Lord helped me to make it in the nick of time to be a support for the most devastating wrestling match of Jackson's short little career.  If I would have arrived 10 seconds later, I would have missed it all.

*To see Jackson's coach lift his arm up and his brothers literally lift him up was a miracle to me.  That was something I hadn't thought of doing.  I was comforting him, which is important, but they didn't see the loss... they saw the champion that he was despite of the loss.  That demonstration of love was more powerful than a win on the mat would have ever been.