Where does your help come from?

I feel like I am singing the same song these days, but boy am I exhausted! I mean I guess being almost 9 months pregnant with a very active toddler who has recently decided that she does not want to sleep by herself and is very clingy would do that to you. I had a breakdown to my husband early this week about this-being exhausted. I was telling him how I felt like I couldn’t be there for my daughter the way she needed because I can barely get down to the floor to play with her or go to a fun store because just the thought of taking her in and out of the car makes me tired. He was asking me what I needed and how he could help. I told him that I needed help; I just wanted to be able to take a nap during the day without worrying about what Olive would get into. I laid in bed complaining to him about my circumstances and his response was ‘Let’s pray!’ As much as I love my husband for having that response, I was a little annoyed at first. I thought, ‘what is prayer going to do for me in this moment?!’ (Real Christian response huh? Ha.) But as he was praying for me and laying hands on my belly, God reminded me of something I had heard at church this past Sunday. Our pastor was telling a story of an interaction he had with his niece over the weekend. He and his family had celebrated Christmas over Thanksgiving so the kids had some presents to open. His niece was trying to open one of her toys that had those ridiculous packaging contraptions, and she couldn’t get it open. So she walked up to our pastor and asked him to help her with it. Our pastor went and got a scissors and was able to easily open it up. He said that instead of getting frustrated trying to open the toy all by herself-which she probably never would have been able to, she went to an adult-someone she knew would be able to help-and got exactly what she needed. Our pastor compared this to how we sometimes deal with God. Do you go to him when we need help and allow him to work in our circumstances, or do we spend all this time and energy trying to fix something we will not be able to do ourselves.

So while Mutzie was praying for me I realized that the help that I need is waiting right in front of me every day. All I need to do is come to the feet of Jesus and allow him to encounter my exhaustion and work in ways that I cannot do myself. The thing is that I haven’t necessarily gotten all that much sleep or been all that more active during the day, but I will say that I have a peace in me that allows me to give myself grace when I can’t do the things I want. I do have the patience to give myself and my daughter when the days get long. I know that I can call upon my Heavenly Father ANYTIME and He will answer me. Spending time in His presence, listening to worship music and allowing it to fill our home-those are ways to allow God to ‘help’ you.

I don’t know what your circumstances look like today or this week, but I know that if you need help, if you need a sense of peace to overwhelm you-call on your Father. Humble yourself and allow you to fall at the feet of grace and partake in the goodness that is our God. It takes work, it takes a willingness to look at things differently, but I do know that in the end, it’s all worth it.

I will probably be singing this ‘exhaustion song’ for awhile since I don’t imagine my sleep getting all that better after baby #2 comes, but I know where my help comes from, I know where I get my strength from and that alone will allow me to find joy and peace in the daily grind. I pray this over you today-that you may find strength and help from your Father in heaven who so freely gives to His children and desires to be there for you-if you only allow him to be. Praying for you all today. Remember, God always has something extraordinary for you to experience, let’s go out there and find it! 

Psalm 121 (NIV)

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

    where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—

    he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—

    he will watch over your life;

⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going

    both now and forevermore.