Give me a word, Lord: BETTER GET SOME HELP

Philippians 4:10-13 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Yesterday was a pretty busy day here on the farm, but that isn’t anything new. We sold our sheep. We had so many things to do yesterday so we went out early to separate the goats and the sheep. If you don’t know this by now, let me just share with you that I am kind of a hard headed woman. We were able to get the sheep, goats, deer, and emu all in one stall of the barn. We can lead those critters anywhere with a bucket of feed. That stall was too small for that many critters so we had to separate the other animals from the sheep that were being sold. Jeff, my husband, was removing the goats, deer, and emu one at a time, and I was working the door. I forget (much too frequently for my own good) that I am not as strong as my husband and never will be, but I sure do give it a good try. As Jeff was sorting animals, our normally very sweet, gentle ram, Mr. Man, decided he wanted to slip out of the stall door with the other animals that we were removing. I grabbed him by the horns, and about that time, he rammed my left hand into the stall door and twisted my right wrist around with his big old ram horns. I’ve got a nice purple shiner on my hand this morning, but no major damage to be reported thankfully. My goat guy, Raymond, bought our whole herd. We’ve bought several goats and even a couple of pair of sheep from him in the past, but this is the first time He bought animals from us. He came to pick up the sheep, and we had a nice visit.

After the sheep were gone, we grabbed some lunch in town and ran a couple of errands, and then we really got to work. We put down new flooring in the living and dining room a couple of months ago, and the guys finally worked us in on their schedule to come put new flooring down in our bedroom. After cleaning the rest of the house, we began to work on preparing the bedroom for the floor guys. I already knew this fact (but confirmed it multiple times yesterday) we have some very heavy furniture in our bedroom! We moved an extra night stand upstairs, then we moved the chest of drawers, dresser and mirror, another night stand, and my jewelry armoire into the living room along with lamps and a variety of other items. We dusted, swept, and mopped, and worked our tails off, but we are prepared for the guys to arrive this morning.

While doing the activities of the day, my husband caught me doing more that what he thought I should several different times. He said, “KK don’t pick that up. That’s too heavy.” “KK let me handle the sheep.” “You are going to hurt yourself.” Y’all just have to know my husband. He is a big, strong farmer, and he is tough. He is much stronger than me, and for years, I’ve wished I could match his strength with my own just so I could keep up with him. Even though I can’t match his strength, I still try my best to keep up with him. I try to work just as hard. This morning, I woke up with the evidence that I should’ve listened a little more closely to his loving instructions. I should not have tried to man handle a full grown ram. I should not have picked up some heavy items without waiting for him to put down the heavy item he was moving. Yep, the proof is in the pudding so they say, but it is actually on my left hand, in my right knee, and in my right butt cheek! Yes, my hand is purple. When I got out of bed this morning, my right knee was so stiff, I could hardly walk on it, and my sciatica literally kicked my butt last night.

All of this could have been avoided had I listened to my husband and not been so stubborn. My husband was right there helping me all day and insisting that I let him do the heavy lifting, but my hard head said, “I can do this by myself.” I think that this is similar to our Christian walk many times. We think that we can do everything all by ourselves. We think that we have all the strength that is needed to accomplish the tasks that life presents us with, but just like this arthritic body announced to me loud and clear this morning, the events of our lives will remind us daily that we can NOT do this thing called life all alone. But Paul tells us in Philippians 4:13 that we CAN do ALL things with Christ who gives us strength. We must recognize that our strength does not come from our old tired bones. No, my friends, our strength comes from Christ, and if He ordains it, if He puts something on your heart to do, if He is in it, you will have all of the strength you need to accomplish anything that Christ wants you to accomplish. Just like my hubby, Christ is there to do the heavy lifting. He will clear a path. He will move mountains if necessary just so that you can do what He has planned for you.

We all make great plans. We try to work hard and do our best, and many times we find that our best is not good enough. We get hurt. We fall short. We may even think about giving up. We can’t give up though. We are still running the race, Peeps, but we aren’t running the race alone. Christ goes before us, and Christ goes with us. Don’t be a hard head and try to do life without Him. Life with Christ is so much better! If you are trying to do everything alone, you better get some help! Let Christ help you today.