Day 39 - Lord, Give Me Strength

For some reason, I can't hold it all together...and I haven't for a while now.

Used to be I could handle my struggles far better than I can nowadays. I'm not sure why, at this point in time, everything seems to be exploding in my face.

I kind of liken it to a soldier who is carefully and stealthily making his way across enemy terrain, his every sense on high alert...and then "click," he steps on a land mine...and within a matter of seconds the solid ground beneath him is exploding in all directions with massive force.

That's a pretty explicit and graphic analogy, but the only one that I can think of that truly expresses how I feel with the stressors in my life lately: my teenager, whom I've provided for and nurtured and loved, now seething with hatred for me and the way in which I parent her -- I'm too strict, I'm too mean, her friends don't like me, I never appreciate her, blah, blah, blah. And then there's my 10 year old child who, at every directive by me, stomps her foot or raises her voice and yells back. Or my toddler who shouts "no!" a thousand times a day and runs from me...or my job situation with all of the stress involved with being a full-time working mother.

Thank God, though, my marriage is on a more even keel...because if that, too, were added to the stresses in my life, I think I'd run away. :)

Serenity Prayer -- by Niebuhr:

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

Living one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, the sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it.

Trusting that He will make all things right

If I surrender to His will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and Supremely happy with Him

Forever in the next. Amen.

Matthew 11:29 says this, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart...AND YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS."

____________________________________________

Lord, I need some more of your peace in my life...Amen.