When You Need Help...badly!

Someone told me a story of a woman who was overheard telling the checkout clerk at the grocery store, "I need help so badly, yet don't know what to do."   

Is there something that you are burdened with at this moment?  Are you feeling overwhelmed?  Do you feel as if you are going it alone?  Truthfully, we all have continuous concerns over one thing or another;  one ends and one begins. 

But let me begin this post by telling you about my pleasant experience this morning.  

We arrived back in the North Georgia mountains in mid December.  Upon arrival, all of our things were sort of put wherever they could be, just out of the way for the meantime.
​Being a plant lover, I brought my favorite houseplants along with me for the move back.   The perfect place for my cherished plants would be the brightly lite open loft area.  The large windows were the perfect choice for their winter home.  

---

As soon as breakfast was over, I headed up the stairs for my time alone with God.  As I went to take my seat at the table by the window, I notice a butterfly sitting on the ledge!   What a surprise.   It instantly dawned on me that there must have been butterfly eggs on the leaves of my plants that were moved up from Florida.  

Very gently I scooped this new life into my hands and placed it on one of the plants near the window.  As I admired this fresh new life, I saw another butterfly clinging to a chrysalis... I now had the blessing of seeing two flapping their wings in preparation for future flight.  

The butterfly must begin the process of expanding and drying its wings before flight is possible.  Meconium is pumped into the wings by wing movement and the help of gravity.  Once the wings have fully expanded, the meconium will be pumped back into the body of the butterfly.  The small amount still in the veins of the wings will dry and harden giving the wings a more sturdy structure that will allow flight.  It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours for a butterfly’s wings to completely dry. 

"A fools says in his heart there is no God."    Psalm 14:1 

What an amazing process of life.  This butterfly did not need my help or intervention.  God perfectly set into motion what needed to take place for this new life to take flight.  

So just how amazing is our God?   
From the cell, to DNA, to amino acids, to the complexity of the eye, to the intricately woven human body.  Nothing comes from nothing. You need information for the process of life to begin and that information comes from an awesome Creator. Yes, God knew YOU when you were in the womb. 

---

 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself..."    Isaiah 44:24

Have you ever felt like God was not around when you needed help?  
When God does not intervene as quick as we like, do we take matters into our own hands?
Over the past three months I find myself asking God, "Can You move more quickly Lord?  I am running on empty as my husband and I seek answers to critical blood pressure problems he is experiencing."  

But there is a something that I have reminded myself of many times: 
"Jo, God does not need your help today.  He has it all under control.
He knows the end from the beginning, so take a breath and rest in Him." 

God does not need our help; He just needs our humbleness to work in our lives.  If I am going to take over, then He cannot work through and in me.  When we release all to Him and admit our helplessness over our circumstances, God WILL arise and life up His mighty hand; but in His time and in His way.   Our life is in His protective and mighty hands. 

The next time you feel that the Lord is not moving and you want to cry out,  "Lord don't you care if I perish?"  (Mark 4: 37-39), remember that God moves at the proper time. 
While you faithfully wait, look for the small blessings each day...wait and pray.  

At times you may feel that friends and family have forgotten you. 
Friends in good times only are not real friends. 
Faith-filled friends are those that linger and pray for you when all around you is falling apart. 
God never leaves your side - trust Him. 

As David once prayed:
​"Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand;
forget not the humble"       Psalm 10:12

Blessings to you!    -Jo 
​

---