The best time for me to clean is when everyone else is asleep quietly in their bedrooms. Trust me, wiping counters is not the thing I want to be doing at 9p.m… I would much rather be sitting on my couch, under a fuzzy blanket reading a book.
However, most evenings that is not what I’m doing but instead I am putting away dinner dishes, wiping the counters and prepping my coffee for the next morning. As I am about to scoop my quite essential coffee into the filter, the smell of hazelnut rising in the air, my youngest daughter Savannah starts crying. Sadly, even though she is almost a year old she still does not sleep through the night ??….whether it is teething pain or gas bubbles she is crying for me.
I head up the stairs, pick her up and lay her on my chest. After a couple of minutes her crying slows. I hush and pat her back and she falls asleep again. As I am rocking her and looking down at her face I notice her little nose, her little eyes, her perfect little lips…but then I notice something else. Her little hand is clinging to my shirt. My sweater is wrapped tightly in her tiny fingers. At that moment I immediately thought of God.
I immediately thought of how blessed I am to be taking care of such a precious little baby. I looked at her little hand clinging to my shirt she seemed to be saying “please don’t let me go, I need you now, I need you to comfort me and hold me, I need you to make my tummy pain go away, I need you to be with me”.
This in turn, made me think of how we can cling to God.
Cling to, hold fast, lean on are all phrases that appear in Scripture when it comes to relying on God during our day to day lives. It is a reminder that we can always find rest in the loving arms of our Heavenly Father. He says I have loved you with an everlasting love. Some of us tend to cling to God in our time of need more than in times of joy and while that is certainly a natural response, He wants us to cling to Him always. As my daughter cried and clung to my shirt with her little fingers in neediness and pain, without saying a word, she was hoping that she would be soothed and comforted by me. Similarly, in the moments we don’t have the words to say we can lift our eyes and hearts to Heaven and simply say Lord Help Me, Comfort me, Be near to me- God will comfort and soothe us. He knows our every need and He will be there for us in those trying, sorrowful, painful moments of life.
We are definitely called and able to turn to God in moments of need- When our heartache and pain is so unbearable. When our loneliness is deafening. When our worrying hearts cannot seem to keep us functioning throughout the day.
Call on Him. Cling to Him. He is there for you- holding you through the storm.
But I want to take a moment to encourage you that God is not just there for the days of trial. He is there every day. Day by day. Every hour. Every second. Every moment. Savannah was calm, her crying had stopped and she fell peacefully asleep again. Yet she was still clinging to my shirt. Her sadness and pain had ended for the moment but she was not letting go. I also want that picture to stay in your mind for a minute. Because even in times of joy and peace, moments where we are feeling blessed and calm, moments where there isn’t any pain or distress we should still be clinging to a God who loves us, abiding in Him, staying connected to Him in prayer and reading the word. He wants us to always rely on Him because He is our strength.
He loves you and is a Perfect Father to His children. You are his creation and He wants a relationship with you today. Cling to Him. Rest in His arms.
And for those who do not know God, who do not know Jesus as their Savior. For those who feel they have been going through this life alone and they are ready to give up. Turn to God today. Ask him to forgive you of the sin in your life and not only will He forgive you but He will hold you in times of distress, He will hold you in times of peace, He will hold you always.
The Lord Bless you and Keep you,
Kara
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