It’s hard to keep caring for those under our care. Grace Thweatt shares how she finds hope.
Elisa
A Hopeful Song For The Weary
By Grace Thweatt
I love order and predictability, and when I first became a mom, I zealously desired to conform to the schedules outlined in the baby book I read. Depending on age, naps were supposed to range between 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours. With my firstborn, however, seventy-five percent of naps the first year or so ended prematurely after thirty minutes. I remember boiling over with frustration as I attempted to rock and sing my baby back to sleep until I had run out of songs and run out of patience! Never getting the time I needed to regroup or recharge, I felt like I was unable to show up as a “good” mom in this season.
Perhaps for you it’s the responsibility of caring for your aging parents while also continuing to manage your own life. Or it could be the responsibility to care for co-workers or people in your ministry while you feel you never have enough bandwidth. Maybe it’s the emotional exhaustion of parenting teens. We each face situations where we may feel that we don’t have the strength to adequately serve those who have been placed in our care.
When we feel stretched past our limits, with nothing left to give, how do we continue to love those God has placed in our care?
The strength to love others comes from first receiving God’s love and care for us. When we are weary, we can go to our Heavenly Father and place our worries into his infinite arms. We let him tend to our tired hearts. And as God fills us with love and peace, we allow his care to overflow from within us to others.
As a mom, it is only as I’ve learned to look to the Lord’s care that I’ve gained the strength to continue showing up for my kids. In those early days of motherhood, trying to get my baby to nap, I began to grasp the reality that as I was singing to my son, my Heavenly Father was singing over me! As Zephaniah 3:17 states:
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
We may seek to serve with great devotion, commitment and sacrifice. But the only way such love can be sustained is by drawing from God’s love for us.
When we find ourselves ebbing in strength, we are invited to remember our Heavenly Father’s limitless care for us. Our song of love streams forth from God’s song over us. What is it that God’s song declares?
Philippians 1:6: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
God’s song declares that his power is at work within us. In the face of our failures and shortcomings as caretakers, we can trust God with our growth and sanctification.
Romans 8:38-39: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
God’s song declares that nothing can separate us from his love. In all the anxieties we hold for this season, we can stake our confidence in God’s protective presence.
When I feel like I’m at the end of myself, I remind myself to put my dependence on my Savior and let his loving care nourish my heart. Instead of bearing the weight of being everything to those placed in my care, my prayer is that God’s love will overflow from me to others.
For all of us, God’s song is the one that never falters but that goes on singing in life-giving beauty for all eternity.
Grace Thweatt lives in Texas with her husband and their two young kids. Stepping into motherhood inspired her recent Lullaby EP release, its music dedicated to encouraging moms in the beautiful but often challenging season of raising littles. Grace also founded and writes for Renew Devotionals, a ministry devoted to helping moms meet with God and grow closer to him through his Word. You can find her lullaby EP and devotionals at gracethweatt.com.
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