Come to the Middle of Me…

You know, life is strange. Moms. Women. Whoever you are, wherever you are. Whatever daily life looks like for us – we are the ones who hold it together. That seems to be our common calling in life – hold the line. Keep yourself together – your home together – your kids and family together. Think ahead, prepare for what’s coming, meet the needs, don’t flounder. Get it right. Do your job well. Keep all those plates spinning and don’t let one thing drop!

We wake up in the morning, drag ourselves to the coffee pot, and get ready for the day. We don’t know exactly what we will face, though we’ve made our to-do lists and checked our calendar. We may have laid out our clothes for the day – prepped our meals – made sure our kids had everything they needed. We’ve got a handle on it.

Then, inevitably, life happens. The baby wakes up with a fever – someone forgot it was their child’s turn to bring snacks today – the middle child has a screaming fit because they don’t want to wear that!!! The car won’t start, I spilled coffee on my blouse, there’s a wreck on the highway, this child will not cooperate, that child forgot his lunch and needs you to take it to the school…

It literally never stops.

At other times, when circumstances are more dire, those are the things we WISH we had to deal with. For some, there are days when there is not enough money to move, let alone make any choices. When life has left you “broke with all these kids”… it’s a tight-rope walk to keep it together and not take our struggles out on them. It’s a fight not to lose your mind in general.

What do we do? We keep walking. What choice do we have? We keep moving forward. We might go ahead and vent our frustrations at little Johnny for peeing on the living room floor… again… but we end up taking that long deep breath whispering, “oh Jesus, give me strength,” and we get our kids lined up at the table, fed a good hot meal, and figure out what to do next.

I’ve seen moms on the edge of breakdown. With not one thing in life going her way, ready to strangle every one of her bad kids, Mom suddenly stops everything and says WE ARE NOT DOING THIS TONIGHT!!! She takes hold of the situation, gets her kids clean, fed, and quieted down… and then she turns herself around and reads a sweet book to them. Or she tells a funny story while gently braiding her child’s hair. Or she reads her bible to them and prays, teaching them how to pray, as well. She somehow gives the whole world even when she is frayed around the edges and coming apart at the seams.

The strength of a woman’s heart amazes me, especially when I witness the actions of these heroic mamas turning all of life’s lemons into lemonade and lemon pies and sweet lemon cookie bars sprinkled with powdered sugar. “There are no victims in this house. We’re making it no matter what.” I love that.

In all of our circumstances – when each woman’s life is unique – we hold one thing in common. We are not alone. We might not see it, we might not feel it, we might not believe it, but that is most certainly the truth. We may not always have people, but we always have Jesus. If we are His, He will never leave us or forget about us. He holds us in the palm of His hand.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.”

Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.

Isaiah 49:14-16 ESV

We so often push God to the edge of our lives. We were trained, or have trained ourselves, to hold it all together. We say, “I can do this!” And we so often can, but when we are living out of nothing but our own strength, our lives can become a sinking ship.

We will inevitably hit a wall. We come to the end of ourselves. We just can’t do it one more day. We burn out. We fall apart. Life happens and we don’t know what to do. How will we get through this? How will we survive?

Some of our religious upbringing has incorrectly taught us that God only helps those who help themselves. We once heard someone incorrectly say that God won’t give you more than you can handle – incorrect in more than one way. We were raised up with phrases like “get yourself together,” “grow up,” and “you can do it!”

But some have been fortunate enough to realize that we have no strength without the Lord. There is no fight we can truly win if He is not fighting on our behalf. If He is not going, we don’t want to go either. The truth is that we can’t do it, and He’s NOT ASKING us to.

O God, we have heard it with our own ears—our ancestors have told us of all You did in their day, in days long ago: 2 You drove out the pagan nations by Your power and gave all the land to our ancestors. You crushed their enemies and set our ancestors free.
3 They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was Your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from Your face that helped them, for You loved them.

Psalm 44:1-3 NLT

Come to the middle of me. That has been my prayer in recent days. Come to the middle of every situation. Forgive me for pushing You to the edge of my life and thinking I can do this on my own. Come to the middle and show me the way. With my marriage, my kids, my job, my life… come to the middle. Be in the center.

His Word tells us to “seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matt 6:33). It tells us to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10) It says, “DO NOT be anxious about ANYTHING, but PRAY about EVERYTHING” (Phil 4:6), and “DO NOT fear for I AM WITH YOU” (Isaiah 41:10). It says to put on His armor, and use His weapons, and then stand still and watch Him work (Ephesians 6).

Jesus wants to be your center. He wants to be in the middle of every part of your life. Why? Because His way is better. His way… His true way… the truth of His Word and not what our religious traditions have taught us… HIS WAY brings life, peace, joy in the midst of all circumstances. He brings “peace that passes understanding” (Phil 4:7).

Whatever you’re facing today – whatever your kids and family are facing – it will only take one tiny grain of faith to open the door to the Lord and ask Him to come to the middle. “Come to the middle of me, Lord. Come to the middle of this circumstance… to the middle of my life.” Forget all those times you were self-sufficient and worked it out on your own. Don’t push Him to the edge. He’s not mad at you, or frustrated with you. There’s no reason to hide or run from Him. His patience, grace, and mercy are perfect. His thoughts about you are loving and forgiving. His banner over you is LOVE.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

If you can believe that He is for you – If you can trust Him for a moment – If you can muster up the courage to go down a different road… that’s the beginning of faith, and that makes God smile. Ask Him to come to the center. That’s where He wants to be.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me.

Revelation 3:20