Regina 
Some nights sleep seems to flee from me (warm tired smile). A toddler I know isn’t too fond of sleeping soundly these days and this too shall pass as seasons always do. I feel the weakness of too little sleep. It’s the first time in my life I’ve truly felt sleep deprived. Incredible considering we are four kids deep into this whole parenting thing (amazed smile), and I feel a little breakable. My tummy filling up with sweet child and her youngest big brother still eating crayons, chewing dirt, & generally being two. They call it “the terrible twos,” but this handsome child isn’t terrible at all. In fact, he’s full of life laughter and joy, and he’s the world’s biggest helper. Yet the daily tango wears on this body of flesh. It’s weakness. I dare to think I can learn to boast in it. I dare to think we can all brag about ordained weakness. Is that crazy? Perhaps, but it is biblical. There are these appointed seasons of fragility. It presses dependence on God and that is always, always where He desires us to be. Fully dependent on His grace and fully aware that we are.
Do you have those spots in your life, those moments, any weakness? The humble are aware that we are all altogether fraught with it. We are all weak in so many ways. We are so needy for a Savior that the soul of the wise cries out for help whether we presently perceive our weakness or not. Weakness isn’t sin. It doesn’t have a simple solution. It’s God ordained, God given. It doesn’t mean we don’t encourage proper sleep in our little ones or tend to whatever the issues might be. It means while we wait, we pray, and we make it our habit to cry out. We admit difficulty and in it we discover how to live humbly. We don’t have to search tirelessly for solutions in our weaknesses, because God is our Helper. Read good books, yes. Listen to great sermons, of course. Seek wise counsel, always. But even in all that good, He is the Perfect One always pulling us through.
Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Psalm 86:1
This is an honest prayer. We are to bare our souls before the king of Heaven.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to You do I cry all the day. Psalm 86:3
We are seeking His face and winding up with hands full of grace. There’s grace in dirt eating and diaper changing and an hour spent awake and in prayer in the middle of the night. There’s grace filling us up carrying us through and those smiles in the morning and all those Bibles opened and the vast amounts of laughter consuming our home… Every shred of this beauty is grace and in weakness my heart is more open to receive it fully, to give the credit where the credit is due, to give the thanks to God and that is His will concerning me, to give thanks, and that is His will concerning the whole lot of us.
God is sovereign over sleepless nights, long days, overwhelming schedules, unexpected loss, and all manner of difficulty undesired. Since His good hand is in it, we can receive what He gives and what He does not give. And still we can always always give thanks.
