Meet Me in the Morning

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

Psalm 5:3 (NIV)

            The alarm rings, a new day begins. As the fogginess of sleep slowly lifts, my mind inevitably turns to the day ahead. Like a clan of hungry hyenas, all the day’s worries and concerns come charging at me, tempting me to scurry back under the covers and shut out the world.

            Obligations, concerns, appointments, therapies, meetings, due dates and a hundred other worries demand my immediate attention, gnawing persistently at my brain. Raising a special-needs child is so much more challenging than I’d ever thought. Add to that, the rest of my family’s wants along with my own needs and I often wonder how I make it through the day.

            Know the feeling? If you’re raising a special-needs child, you understand that early-morning clamor of worries and burdens that sets in before you’ve even stepped out of bed. That to-do list which never seems to dwindle, the endless consultations and therapies that are supposed to help improve your child’s lifestyle, the nagging questions that never seem to find answers.

            Unfortunately, those first few minutes of the day can determine the rest of it; how we approach it, how we feel about it, how we deal with it. That’s why God bids us come before Him each morning, casting upon Him all of our cares and concerns. Our heavenly Father wants to share our heavy load, to have us lay before Him all that troubles us so he can equip us with His strength, His patience, His peace, His joy and His grace. When we commit our day to God, He empowers us to handle whatever it may bring.

            Think of it like this; if our husbands came to us and expressed a wish to help us share some of the day’s workload, wouldn’t we jump at the offer? Here’s a list, honey, go for it! Then why are we so slow to do the same with our heavenly Father? He’s waiting for us, ready to take on the day, prepared to help us face whatever comes our way.

            Life with a special-needs child is often more than any of us can handle. That’s why we need our heavenly Father to help us carry the load. When we bring our requests before him and leave them at his feet, then we rid ourselves of all those worries, freeing our minds to enjoy the little pleasures God sprinkles throughout each day.