Mommy Lesson 19 - Mommy's Strength in Exhaustion

This morning the 3 older kids woke up with sore throats, stuffy noses, coughs and headaches. Which means today was a sick day. I let the kids just hang out on the couch and rest all day. I haven't really had any time to think about blogging but want to continue with my 31 Day commitment so I am reposting a blog I wrote in 2007 that is as much of a lesson I am learning today as it was then. You can view the original post here if you want.

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In my blogger description, it says, “I am learning that to rely alone on God's strength beats getting a full nights sleep any day.” When I wrote that Baby G was only about 3 months old. She was still eating every two hours and needing to be burped and everything else an infant needs. So, I was sure that I would be back to sleeping at least most of the night within a couple of months. After all that stage in babyhood is suppose to pass right? Well, not this time. This little munchkin of mine has the hardest time sleeping. She has a hard time relaxing enough to fall asleep and when she finally does fall asleep, she barely sleeps for two hours before waking up. And sometimes the poor thing cannot fall back asleep right away. This has been causing a lot of sleepless nights for me and I am learning in a new way that I need to rely alone on God’s strength.

If I rely solely on God for strength then the fact that I average about 4 to 6 broken hours of sleep a night should not affect me at all. Because His strength is perfect when I am weak. Well, God’s strength is pouring into me in amazing ways right now in be because everyday, I am weaker than the day before. I have always been one to go out and do something myself. I am very stubborn and self-sufficient. If something needs to be done, I will do it. I am just that way. I do not like asking for help or relying on others to help me. It is a pride issue that I have been dealing with for many many years. I am learning that this is an area that God can use to humble me and cause me to rely on Him because I am collapsing under my own strength right now. Without God, I am a complete and total mess. IF I rely on Him and only on Him, not myself, I can make it one day at a time. I will have the energy to chase around a running 11 month old. Yep, she is running full speed ahead. She figured out that she can move faster at a running speed and kept on going. Everyday she figures out how to do something new. It amazes me how much they absorb and how fast they grow at this age.

Psalm 18:32 (NKJV)

“It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.”

Isaiah 40:30-31 (NKJV)

“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NKJV)

“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”