Who Keeps It Together For Her Family

My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.

CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION? Who told you that you couldn’t fall apart? Was it someone else? Or at some point did you convince yourself that if you began to show others how you really felt, you’d never be able to package your emotions back up? Do you ever view your stress as if it were being held behind a huge dam, with no way for you to let out just a little of the pressure at a time?

So you stay strong. At least, that’s the face you put on for your family. That’s the way you’ve resolved to remain resilient.

But can I say something you perhaps desperately need to hear? There are places in your heart that God wants to touch so He can bring healing to them. He knows you need Him. Deep within, you know that only He can help you with all you’ve been carrying inside for so long. But you’re convinced that if you admit you’re not okay—if you actually feel your feelings—they will swallow you whole. So you just keep burying them beneath busy. You keep pressing through. But God is asking you to trust Him and to let Him be strong on your behalf.

Sometimes we tell ourselves we need to ask God for help only when we have failed. We have decided that when we can’t do something, that’s the time we need to call in the reinforcements of heaven. But the truth is, we are always in need of heaven’s help. When Paul, a great man in Scripture, struggled, he asked the Lord to take away his difficulty. God answered: “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

My friend, weakness is an invitation to allow God’s strength to replace ours. But it requires us to acknowledge that we aren’t as strong as we may seem to others. We aren’t held together on the inside as much as we may appear to have it together on the outside.

It’s okay to feel weak. It’s okay to feel scared. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed or unsure. It’s okay to be a human who needs God’s help. You can fall into the arms of a good God who will put you back together better than before. He wants to work through you. Rather than keep it together for our families, let’s turn to Christ, who brings true hope and healing, whose power works best in weakness. And let’s share Paul’s response to Jesus: “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT).

Tonight we pray for the momma who is doing her best to keep it together for her family. Lord, she has tried to control everything (including her emotions), fearing that if she lets go, she will fall apart and everything else around her will too. Tonight help this momma see that You are keeping her together with Your love and Your power. She isn’t held together by her own strength, but by Your grace and mercy alone. When she feels like falling apart, she can fall into Your arms, and You will hold her and everything she is feeling. Bring her peace and relief tonight.

We ask in Jesus’s name, amen.

Jesus, You already know what my heart holds. Tonight please help me with this: