Overcoming Overwhelm: God's Comfort for Working Mothers - Find Peace and Purpose in the Dance of Work and MotherhoodSample

Day Four: God's Grace in Weakness

When I read verses like Philippians 2:14 “Do everything without grumbling or arguing”, I do sometimes find myself questioning if God literally meant everything! Because it’s hard, isn’t it? It’s hard not to find ourselves moaning or throwing ourselves a pity party when things aren’t going quite as smoothly as we planned. Just like he didn’t with Elijah though, God isn’t dismissing our difficulties. However, he is asking for us to shift our focus.

When God hears Elijah’s plight, he doesn’t join in with discussing how hard it must be for him. Instead, as we read in 1 Kings 19:11, he tells Elijah to go and stand on the mountain as God’s presence is about to pass by.

Our immediate response when God is trying to get our attention in a way we didn’t expect, might be to get frustrated and miss the very thing he’s trying to point us to - His presence. We’re told in John 16:33 that in this world we’ll have trouble, and we’re also told that he has overcome the world. He’s gone before us in the drudgery and the difficulty and he’s using those very same moments to sanctify us. If we spend all day stretched and stressed, complaining about why we’re not going and growing towards our personal or professional goals in the way God intended, we’re missing the fact that his grace is enough to sustain us.

Elijah missed this too. Despite God allowing for a violent wind, an earthquake and a fire to take place, it was God’s still small voice which got Elijah to respond. Although he responded to God when he was spoken to, he says the very same thing in verse 14 that he said back in verse ten. God doesn’t condemn Elijah for missing the mark with his complaints and his cries. However he doesn’t amplify his concerns either.

Just like he did with Elijah, God wants to make it clear that in spite of absolutely anything we might face in this world, it is he who holds us and he who helps us. (See Psalm 121:1-2). May we seek him when we’re feeling weary in our working. May we seek him when we’re feeling tired of parenting our toddlers or our teens, and may we seek him as we look for wisdom in weaving these two precious aspects of our lives together.

Give yourself some time to reflect on the following: