HSBC Coffeebreak

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
Psalm 62:5 NIV

My relationship with God is not always made of grand discoveries and amazing victories. One day that definitely didn’t feel like an award winning day, but was actually pretty typical, came towards the end of my fourth pregnancy. I am a morning person and during that time, I felt lucky to get the evening meal on the table. The process of tracking down my family, forcing them to come to my meal and then clean up their food was almost more than I could bear, let alone clean up and get the kids to bed. I felt like I was skipping most of the things I should be doing most nights and still barely making it. Finally the kids had all gone potty, they had their drink, and those in need were in diapers. They each got tucked in, hugged and kissed and put back about twice, prayed with, and then we tried to leave the room. My kids are geniuses for finding a question that will actually get a response from us at that time of night. Something about death or heaven or God’s love will usually do the trick and they know it.

Finally our escape was made. I sank onto the toilet with a sigh of relief. (Maybe that’s too much information, but this is my reality.) “I love the end of the day,” I said to my husband, “when I know my work is done…” As these words left my mouth, the bathroom door swung open, “Mommy,” said a little voice. My daughter’s toy had fallen out of bed and now she was coming for permission to pick it up because she didn’t want to get in trouble for getting out of bed. Five minutes later she was back, again, needing to go potty, again.

Come to think of it, does a parent’s day ever end? It’s a relief to know God is there on the days I have nothing left, on the days, in fact, when I’ve been running on empty for a long time already. On most of my days, I am not the conquering victor I’d like to be, but I have my own Heavenly Father whose arms I can sink into and find rest. Instead of shaming me for not being all I think I should be, He provides me with a resting place.

Written by
Melody Anderson