Do not fear ... I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.-- Isaiah 41:14
Usually when I am at the end of my rope, I stew and worry and wake up in the middle of the night wondering how I will handle the latest crisis. As a man and an engineer, I have been conditioned to be the problem solver, the rock, the one to depend on. But when I can't find the answers I become depressed. In these moments, I have found that if I just step back and pray to God to help me, I have found that my burdens lighten, my worries abate, and a path forward eventually is opened to me. At times when I never thought I would find a wife, when I was in danger of losing my job, or when I was worried about finances, I have turned to prayer and asked God to help me. I have been amazed at the outcomes.
The answer is seldom what I thought it would be, but prayer has helped me through the difficult times. Too often we think we should save our prayers for the big issues, the things we can't handle by ourselves. I think that if we didn't wait until we were ready to snap before turning to God, we wouldn't reach the breaking point, or at least decrease the number of times we do. We need to trust God more and let God work through us, instead of us being so confident that we can fix it ourselves without God's help.
The next time you are faced with a problem or worry, just take a moment to ask for God's help. You may be surprised at the results.
Prayer:
Lord, help us to trust you more instead of trying to "go it alone" and "tough it out" as we've been conditioned to do. Help us not to fear knowing that you will help us. All we need to do is ask. Amen.
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