Seek The Lord

“We can’t. God can.”

“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually” 1 Chronicles 16:11

I’m a mom of four, and I struggle with being overwhelmed by all the things. Sometimes I’m so focused on things I need to think about in motherhood, it gets in my way of Spiritual growth and learning. Let me explain what I mean.

I tend to read verses like Matthew 6:34 (“Do not be anxious about tomorrow…”) or 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances…”) and almost roll my eyes, sarcastically thinking, “Ok great, I’ll get right on that, as soon as I’m feeling energized and finish with these dishes”. 

Seriously, how can I just stop being anxious? How can I just rejoice while I’m drowning in tasks? How can I be patient, how can I be loving, how can I be grateful when things around me seem so difficult? I’m too overwhelmed to figure any of this out. I just can’t do it. 

And you know what? I’m right. I can’t.

But I know someone who can. 

My community of mom friends would tell me, “Just pray about it. Go to Jesus. Lay it at His feet. Spend time in His word.”, and it took me way too long to realize I wasn’t actually doing these things. I would pray, I would read the Bible, but one day, after listening to an MMF podcast and reflecting on how I could realistically actually apply that to my life, I realized I wasn’t actually giving my struggles to Jesus, laying them down, and then leaving them there. Maybe as I was praying, I’d invite Him to be in a situation, but then I wouldn’t let Him take care of it. I’d pick it right back up and try to fix it myself. 

We’re all struggling with different things whether it’s anxiety, the need for joy or patience or something else. How do we fix what we’re struggling with? 

We can’t. God can. 

But we have to go to Him. We have to pray. We have to cry out to Him. We have to lay down our struggles and then leave them there, trusting that He is in control. We have to spend time in His Word because that’s the easiest way to hear from Him. 

It’s only through HIS strength and HIS presence that we can stop struggling, and live the abundant life Jesus planned for us. 

Action Steps:

• Pray. Go to Jesus.

• Lay it at His feet, mama. Walk away.

• Read your Bible. There are so many stories of people struggling with the same things you are.

• Don’t roll your eyes at Bible verses. 

Written by Cathrine, overwhelmed mom of 4

To read more devotionals like this one, or to sign up to receive them in your inbox, click HERE.