Words from my quiet time this morning…..

“Please Lord, don’t leave me in this awful stuck place.”

And we all feel that sometimes. Your “stuck” is different than my “stuck” but we are stuck all the same.

And then He gives me Paul’s words in Acts 20.

“I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing….”  Acts 20:19 NIV

And I can relate. Sometimes the trials never seem to end. One thing after another and I despair. But then I’m reminded:

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me……”  Acts 20:24 NIV

I’m reminded that I’m but dust. And I smile because my work here, my task, is important! I have purpose!

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.”  Acts 20:28-29 NIV

We are called to shepherd our children. Satan wants them so badly. Our job is so huge!

But we aren’t alone!

““Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”  Acts 20:32 NIV

He is with us. Upholding us! Building us up. But we must stay in the Word. It’s our daily bread.

And we can’t think it will be easy.

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ””  Acts 20:35 NIV

Indeed. It’s a hard, tear filled business we are in! But an important one. May we continue our task, commiting our work, ourselves and our children to Him.