Alone? - by Kendra

Philippians 4:13 (New Living Translation)

¹³ For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

I’m Alone. Ok, not really alone. I have 4 children (ages 6 and under) and 2 dogs filling up my house. However, my husband is not here, and I feel alone. He is TDY right now (Army-speak for working away from home), and even though he will come back, I feel alone. This job of motherhood is so exhausting some days. Maybe you are a single mom. Maybe your husband is working long hours. Or, maybe your husband is away serving and protecting this country. Any way it happens, it is just hard. Parenting is hard no matter which way you look at it. However, when the father figure is gone, parenting gets even harder. However, we are not alone. There is no better father than the Heavenly Father. He is here, helping us get through each moment. My friends, please know that right now I am praying for you, especially those of you carrying out this tremendous job of parenthood all on your own.  We hear Philippians 4:13 spouted so often that it is easy to blow it off in a trite manner. But, it is not trite. It is very powerful. The key is to discover HOW to get that strength. Unfortunately, this isn’t Star Trek. God won’t beam us up, and he doesn’t have some little replicator that makes heavenly manna for us to eat and revive our energy. However, he has given us tools that we can use. The first one is prayer. Simply coming before God’s throne and praying brings power from Him to our hearts, bodies, and souls. When I bow my head and admit to God that I don’t have the strength to do my work alone, He does indeed give me strength.  The second tool is time in God’s word. I have discovered that as a mom, I seem to falter even more if I neglect to spend a moment alone with God as often as possible. Don’t get me wrong, that moment has been known to be a whopping 30 seconds on days when the crazy crew I call my family is in full on assault. Yet, on those days, I somehow find strength if and only if I turn to the Lord. Those 30 seconds may simply be reciting this verse and praying for wisdom and peace, but is a moment well spent. Of course, if I can spend more time in devotions, the more the merrier….but at this stage in my life, I will take what I can get.

So, I was wrong. I am not alone. My father, God, is helping me do this job we call motherhood. Will you let Him help you today too?