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Our family has experienced some major changes in over the last year. Just to name a few:
- I was laid off from my job of 11 years.
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We started homeschooling our two children.
- My mother experienced a lengthy illness and passed away.
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My husband’s employer has changed everyone to a 12-hour day schedule. For the first time in our marriage, he isn’t working straight Monday through Friday.
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My husband went back to school to get his Bachelor’s degree.
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I went back to school to get my Bachelor’s degree.
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I started working 2 part-time jobs. One is consistent and the other is as-needed.
- We sold our house and moved. Twice.
As you can see this has been an interesting year for us. We are also active in our church with a puppet ministry as well as a Wednesday night kids program. I have this blog that I would like to post more faithfully to, and I make and sell beaded jewelry as a hobby. We have families, we have friends, we have obligations that we must meet. Overall, it’s all good, but even in the midst of all the good, we can feel a little OVERWHELMED!
My husband’s schedule of work and school is particularly tough. The word that I hear him utter the most these days is “overwhelmed”. I have been praying for wisdom on how to be an encouragement to him, and God gave me this verse recently. A Facebook page that I subscribe to posted a picture of a Bible opened to the first verses of Psalm 142, and it caught my attention:
Psalm 142:1-3 ~ “I cried unto the Lord with my voice: with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before Him; I showed before Him my trouble. When my spirit was OVERWHELMED within me, then Thou knewest my path…” (emphasis is mine)
The Psalm goes on to describe feelings that David experienced as he experienced the snares and trials that plagued him. At the end of the chapter, in verse seven, he petitions God one more time:
Psalm 142:7 ~ “Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise Thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for Thou shalt deal bountifully with me.”
As I read this last verse, it occurred to me that the reason that David asked God to release him from the “prison” that he was in was so that he could praise God. That’s it. He promised God that when He released him, he would praise His name! He knew that when his trials were over he would be surrounded with those who love God and do His will, and that God would bless him. He was ready and willing to tell everyone what a wonderful God he served!
When times are difficult, I am certain the one goal we most focus on is getting through the trial. I know now that perhaps our one goal should be looking at all of the ways that we can praise God about how He was there for us and brought us through it. In fact, our family has so many blessings that God showered upon us this last difficult year, I have many blog posts that I need to write to catch up with all of the praises that I owe to Him!
