In an early morning outburst, I fled my schoolroom and barreled down the stairs. Leaving my two homeschooled children behind, I shut the school room door, and my bedroom door, and my bathroom door, and then my closet door. There, in the darkness of my walk-in closet, I fell to my knees and put my forehead on the bristly Berber carpet.
“Jesus,” I desperately prayed, “please let my children live until my husband gets home.”
I was exasperated, frustrated, and felt totally unable to homeschool my children. I had no clue what I was doing and knew that I would go down in the hall of fame of homeschool teacher failures. I didn’t know how to do the impossible things facing me.
We have all been in that place of empty desperation. We have to put on happy faces for our families when inside we are brokenhearted. We have to get up and go to work when we are exhausted and overwhelmed. We have to care for our aging parents when we are simultaneously caring for our children. We have to trust God to provide when the paycheck does stretch until the next one.
We are desperate for God to help us. Unless God shows up, we are in deep, deep trouble.
There was a man in the Bible who was also deeply dependent upon God to do his life’s work. He is an amazing man that we know as the Apostle Paul. The author of most of the New Testament, he was called by Jesus in an blinding experience along a Damascus Road.
In the book of Ephesians, this is how Paul describes himself:
An apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God (Eph. 1:1)
A minister of the gospel (Eph. 3:7)
A prisoner of Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:1 & 4:1)
An ambassador in chains for the gospel (Eph. 6:19)
As I look at the roles that Paul had to walk in, I wonder, “How on earth did he do this? How did this Jewish man turn the world upside down? How did he do these impossible things?”
The answer to that question is also found in the book of Ephesians. Look at these insights into how Paul accomplished the tasks God put before Him:
Grace was given to him (Eph. 3:2)
Revelation was given to him (Eph. 3:3)
Insight was given to him (Eph. 3:4)
God’s grace was given to him (Eph. 3:7-8)
God’s power worked in him (Eph. 3:7)
Paul was called by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, a people who walked in great darkness. But Paul was not left to fight his battles alone. Paul was not left unequipped to do the work set before him. Paul was given all that he needed to be an apostle, a minister, an ambassador, and even a prisoner.
Paul was given grace in abundance, wisdom via revelation and insight, and most importantly, God’s power was at work in him.
You, too, are not left empty handed to do the work set before you. God gives you the same gifts as He gave the Apostle Paul. God gives you the same grace, the same wisdom, and the same power is at work in you. You can do what seems impossible.
There is grace for your mothering.
There is wisdom to repair relationships.
There is God’s power in you when you feel weak.
You may have to do as I did, and pull away to a quiet place, fall on your knees, and prayer a desperate prayer to God. God’s answer will be the grace, wisdom, and power to do the task set before you.
You don’t have to do it alone. Ask for help. And grace, wisdom, and power will be on their way.
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