Skip to main content

Strength that God supplies

We're tired.

Plain and simple.

The amount of work that needs to be done far exceeds the capacity of one pastor and one full-time mom.

But we struggle onward.  We see God's hand in bringing us here, in placing us here at this time with these needs.  We never doubt that this is exactly where God wants us.  Even on those days when we long for a few hours of being anonymous and having people watch our children who are comfortable with our special needs daughter.

But we're tired.

"The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.  Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.  Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies - in order that in everything God may be glorified through Christ Jesus.  To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen" (I Peter 4:7-11, ESV).

This passage puts it all in perspective.  We might be weary but this is why we press on: "in order that in everything God may be glorified." The end of all things is near, so I'm grateful that God has removed many distractions from my life so that I can focus more steadfastly on loving others.

But what struck me the most is that we are called to serve by the strength that God supplies! Some days I feel so bone-exhausted that I'm not sure how I will have the strength to serve my family lovingly, let alone our staff, houseguests, neighborhood children, our interns, supporters, teammates, our missionary community here, ACTION co-laborers worldwide... the list goes on.

But guess what! I don't NEED any strength to serve! GOD WILL SUPPLY!

I didn't sleep last night (training a baby to sleep the night involves sleepless nights for mom).  I didn't rest this weekend (weekends here just mean more activity since HOL children are home from school).  But my attitude is so much better this morning after reading this passage.

May this strengthen and encourage you.  Drop the facade.  Stop trying to find strength in yourself to serve and love.  It won't work.  But God will supply the strength that you need to serve and love to his glory!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Family of Three!

We are in Liberia - the electricity goes in and out because the generator is having trouble keeping up these days! So hopefully it will stay on long enough to post and the internet connection will allow me this luxury! We were united with precious Gracie on Thanksgiving day - I will write more about this later. But, oh! is Gracie a joy! She is so beautiful, so joyfilled, and a bit mischievious. Her physical limitations do not permit her to accomplish much mischief, but we can tell that she is trying to push some limits already. If we were not in love with her already, she is irresitable and such a treasure and blessing from God. In our two days together, she has not cried once. She spends most of her days smiling, she loves to snuggle (good match for us!), and has the most contagious laugh! Life takes more effort for her - her cerebral palsy is moderate and every activity is a challenge and is clearly tiring for her. Meal times (which she loves) take a long time and much patience and d...

New Stage of Life

Gracie has entered a new developmental stage. She now is active and has been rolling all over the floor. We cleared out a little living room so that she would have room to roll around - she's rolling front to back, both directions. She also has been much easier to get up on all fours - it used to take 3-4 adults to cram her into the crawling position due to her resistance. She now even spontaneously gets into a semi-crawling position on her own. In the crawling position she's been weight bearing even on her right arm (but always in combination with her left arm). She also has been rocking a little in the crawling position as if she gets it that this is a way that you can move! It's been so exciting. But it also makes her much more eager to be down with other kids and moving around. She's in a very active active stage, always moving, and wanting to move. She's also taken, not just a huge interest in other kids, but also interest in toys a bit more. She's so fun!

The Foolishness of God's Calling

A friend shared with me how "strange" (and scary) our decisions appear to those observing our lives. Most people are barely surviving residency and then for me to decide to adopt, to decide to adopt a child with special needs, to decide to adopt this child from the uncertainty of Liberia, to decide to start my Master's of Public Health during residency... it all seems crazy and overwhelming to the observer. But what my friend did not take into account is that God's calling on our lives will not always appear sane. Our choices are neither noble nor insane if they are what God has called us to. These choices are simply obedience to sovereign God! We are not living for life in this world, we are in fact aliens to this world and shouldn't settle down and get too comfortable because our joy is in heaven. God calls each of us to "not waste our lives" but live each day with an eternal focus. With an eternal focus, we should not only adopt a child with disabil...