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Lean Into the God who Gives True Rest

 It’s 3am, our infant is beginning to stir and wake. She is hungry again after only two hours since she nursed last. I have to will my eyes open, suffer the pain of staying awake while truly exhausted. I think how nice it will be when she sleeps through the night and yet, these sweet little fingers holding mine. Her soft breaths of contentment reveal her trust in me.

It’s 4 am, I can’t sleep. I walk by my toddler’s room, see her sweet curls, finger wrapped around them. It has been a rough day, temper tantrums in the middle of the store, refusal to nap. How sweet now, as she lays on her pastel butterfly sheets clutching her “Lambie.”

It’s 12:30am, she’s still not home. I will my eyes to stay open, waiting for her to come through the door. I start to worry, I shouldn’t. She’s always been responsible, she has a good group of friends. But what if...? What about...?

My prayer in these moments is that God would protect my children, wrap his loving arms around them. They are His first. Help me to trust you, Lord, to not be afraid or anxious. Some days I feel it is too hard, I am too tired. In your strength, though, I can be the mom and wife you call me to be. I can choose patience over anger, quiet wisdom over loud rebuke, quality time over selfish desires. 

Psalm 61:2-3 From the ends of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy.
2 Corinthians 12:9-11But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

How do you seek God’s strength in these moments? How tired are you feeling right now as a parent?  How can I pray for you? 

     
  

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