American Missionary Fellowship

It was one of those days, a Monday, when I woke up and my breath was worse than my normally bad breath.  It was going to take more than a pea-sized amount of toothpaste on the brush.  I wanted to stay in bed, but the Holy Spirit (and having to get the kids to school before 7:55am) pulled me out from under the flannel sheets.  This was a morning where I needed to quote Ecclesiastes 7:9, which says, “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools” (NIV).

The day didn’t get any better when I got to the nursing home.  The staff was grouchy; the residents were cranky and unresponsive.  Frankly, I was ready to leave and come back another day.  I rounded the end of the hall and found myself outside of Room 256.  I’d never been to this room or met this particular resident. 

She sat in the middle of her small room with the TV blaring.  I turned the TV down, and Rena and I began to talk.  She talked about her three sons and three grandchildren, and I talked about my best Jewish friend in the whole world.  Despite my attitude regarding the affairs of the day, this ninety-something, wheelchair-bound woman gave her heart to our LORD. 

How is it when I feel I am at some of my weakest moments and trying to figure an exit strategy that’s the precise moment the LORD drops the hammer?  Hebrews 4:15 has been especially encouraging to me lately, and I’m “surprised” how it fits here: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin”  (NIV).

Father, those days I feel like hiding under my bed or punching a few pillows, please help me to remember that You know what’s going on.  The desire to give up, the desire to run over somebody (with my mouth or my car), the desire to meet my needs above others, those times, remind me from your Word and Your Spirit to “hold firmly to the faith I possess” (Hebrews 4:14).