When it's 7:48am and you're already done

Have you ever been just a few deep breaths away from a total meltdown? Not the kids. I’m talking about you.

This post was also featured in Hope When Your Heart is Heavy, which is a devotional from Proverbs 31 Ministries. Scroll to the bottom of this post to watch a Facebook Live about how identifying those fire-in-the-chest moments can actually help unlock your freedom as a mom.

A yelp over the Spiderman Lego, and a full bowl of Cheerios slams to the floor.

The milk backsplash wets my forehead.

My eyes darken and I can feel the fire rising in my chest.

It is only 7:48am and I am already done with this day.

I close my eyes at the kitchen sink and breathe out, long and hard. Their racket fades into the background.

Another day.

Another day of the same arguments, the same messes, the same frustrations. The same things I dealt with yesterday. The same things are ahead today.

The circular tasks are unending. The work is never done.

Laundry is folded as dirty clothes blanket the floor. I started the dishwasher after afternoon snack and now I’m starting dinner. The messes happen in the background as I start to mop up the spilled milk. It will continue all day.

Oh Lord, how I need you right now, I silently cry out from the depths of my exhausted, weary soul.

I am depleted.

I am drained.

I’m shutting down.

Lord, please. I need you right now.

Lately, it’s been my daily plea. Usually, it doesn’t come until witching hour. Sometime around 5 p.m., when I’m trying to make mac ‘n cheese and help kids with homework and shush a teething baby.

It’s almost evening when He hears my cry.

But not today, Lord. Today, I need You right now, before 8am Please, Jesus. Be here.

I need Jesus and some coffee.

And Lord, I don’t just need your strength, to get up early with toddlers and mop this messy floor and fold clothes.

I need Your peace. I need to know that I’m meant to be here. That I belong here.

I need your hope.

God, remind me that You have placed me here for this divine and invisible work.

I found an off-the-beaten-path verse today that really spoke to me. It’s Psalm 40:17.

“Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.”

Something about the last half-line really caught me.

“Oh my God, do not delay.”

There’s an urgency in David’s tone. The need is immediate. He desires the comfort only His Holy Father can provide.

He is begging for God’s help.

“Oh my God, do not delay.”

Going to the Lord with our every need is a daily practice.

In this Psalm, we witness David laying the groundwork for a life that is characterized by an unfailing trust in the Lord. We can join him and walk in the faith that God will do what He says He’s going to do.

For some, trusting and believing that God will handle it all is a natural habit. For others, it requires a daily discipline of prayer, patience, and persistence to hand all our cares, burdens and spilled cereal mornings over to Him.

God knows what He’s doing. He has it all under control.

Our hope can rest in knowing that the God of the universe totally has it covered.

And, when we need to, we can cry out to him.

Oh Lord, please meet me where I am today.

“Oh my God, do not delay.”

Meet me right here in this kitchen. I need you today.