It’s been said that children can detect when their parents are having a bad day. Beyond the obvious outward signs of yelling, kicking, or screaming kids can assess the subtle inward struggles that mom or dad might be dealing with.

We had a family dog that lived to be thirteen. Allie had to be put to sleep in April of 2013. My wife and I bought her just three months into our marriage. One of the things that Allie learned to not like about me was when I would sit down to play Madden on the Playstation. I’m not sure if it was the sound of the controllers hitting the wall after a loss or me screaming at the imaginary referees in the game that she did not like. Either way the sound of her paws walking up the steps when I turned the game system on was quite funny. Of course that was early on in my gaming career. Now I just hold the controller tightly in my hands and grunt at the T.V. when I lose. Perhaps I need to lay on a couch and speak to someone about this.

My son loves the Lord. He is a sensitive soul. He is gentle and kind. He often puts the needs of others before himself. He’s just like his mother. I’d like to think that we have done a good job in raising him to be a young man after God’s own heart. We pray and read the Bible with him every night. Hearing him pray is the greatest sound that I hear. I truly believe God loves to listen to the simplistic and innocent prayers of his children. The younger ones, especially.

Early on in our sons life we have surrounded him with Scripture, literally. My wife would write Bible verses on paper and place them around his crib. As he got older we replaced those papers with state of the art posters complete with pictures. He has about eight of them that are on the walls around his bed.

There is one in particular that my son chose to show to my wife when she was having a bad day. She took a picture of it and saved it to her phone. Just a few days later I came home from work in a bad mood. He must have heard me speaking to my wife about my day because the very next morning I get a text from my wife letting me know that my son wanted to text me the same picture that he had shown her when she was having a bad day.

“I think daddy needs this. He is having a tough time at Subway.”

What did the sign say? “God makes the rough places smooth” (Isaiah 40:4). The verse says, “Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.”

I believe that God spoke through my son that day.

EVERY valley shall be raised up! You won’t have to walk through it forever. It’s only for a season.

EVERY mountain and hill made low! You will rise above your circumstances. You will walk on the waves.

EVERY bit of rough ground will be made level! You will be able to walk without stumbling. Your steps will be unhindered.

EVERY rough place will be made smooth! You will be able to come out of where you are more refined. You will always be in His hands.

Sometimes God needs to sand some of our rough edges down. Those seasons are uncomfortable, monotonous, and predictable.

Sometimes God just shows up and brings the calm in the midst of the storm and just makes it all smooth. He speaks and it happens.

Either way He will honor His word and in due time He will smooth it all out for us. We just have to hang in there and have some childlike faith!