(Not) A Hired Helper

“The Holy Spirit is with us. Growing and guiding and faithfully filling in our gaps.”

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.” John 14:16

If you were given the choice to be gifted a cleaner, a cook, or a driver for the rest of your life, which would you choose? Hands down I’d choose a cook. If I never had to decide what to eat, how to cook it healthfully or wash my own pans again…I’d be pumped! Now, I know those dishes are proof of the gift of family, but I’m just being real with you…I’d never darken the kitchen doorway again. 

But you know what Helper I can’t live without? The Holy Spirit. 

Make no mistake, I’m not lumping Him in with hired help. He and His power are so awesome and incapable of being fully explained that every biblical translation calls him something different: Counselor, Comforter, Advocate, Encourager, Intercessor, Helper, Protector, Defender. He’s all these things and more and so vital to the Jesus follower that Jesus himself said it would be better for us if He left so the Spirit could come to us. 

Does anything really prepare you, fully, for being a momma? Sure, you may be a nurturer, an organizer, babysitter, surrogate mom to your own siblings, teacher, etc. but it just hits differently when those babies are yours and you’re theirs. And it doesn’t take long before the Lord uses those cherubs to reveal parts of your heart and personality you didn’t know needed work. But He does it for our good, and He doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. We are gifted His Holy Spirit forever. And even in the hardest of times He helps us pray when we don’t know the words to say. Any momma ever found herself praying one of those prayers: over your infant who is still unexplainably sick after three weeks, over your little’s unsoothable months of night terrors, over the next disagreement or attitude from your teen…or whatever it is you’ve been unable to find the right words to pray over. He knows them. He works and speaks from inside us mothers as our Counselor with wisdom from above, our Comforter with unexplainable peace, our Intercessor with words we don’t know and on and on. He is IRREPLACEABLE to our lives in the spirit and in the flesh, and irreplaceable to our role as moms raising the next faithful generation. And as heavy as that sometimes feels, We.Are.Not.Alone. The Holy Spirit is with us. Growing and guiding and faithfully filling in our gaps. He is our Helper and He is for us!

Action Steps:

• If you are reading this in the morning, ask the Holy Spirit to help you see His guidance in your day; listen for His quiet voice as your parent, pause for His leading in your responses to your kiddos. In the evening ask the Holy Spirit to point out where you leaned on Him that day and areas that you can work on tomorrow.

• If there is something exceptionally heavy you’re carrying for your kiddos right now and you don’t have the words, make a practice of stealing a few minutes, taking a deep breath and pausing to be aware that He is with you. Ask Him to pray where you’ve run out of words and trust that He is at work. 

• Pray: Father, thank You for all that You are and thank You for never leaving us alone, Jesus, but giving us One like You, the Holy Spirit, to lead and comfort and guide us as You make us into your likeness. Help us to ask for Your lead and follow it as we care for Your children and guide us in how to raise them to be lovers of You, Jesus. In Your faithful name, amen.

Written by Brooke, mom of 3