Renew My Strength

But those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

In reading a devotion in The Upper Room, I could relate to the author’s plea to God: “I don’t know how to do it all. Right now, I just want to give up. Please help me.”

I can think of some situations in my life in the past year or so where this was certainly the case:

• Recently I contracted Covid. My prayers that first day were to just get through {it} and feel better. 

• When my mother died, I knew the day of her funeral would be difficult. I felt peaceful and renewed by God and my family all day.

• Feeling overwhelmed by tasks, in whatever situation I may find myself.  Often just having a full calendar can be stressful.

Sometimes what we need is just a boost into the next day. The next hour! One step at a time.

In Anne Lamott’s book “Help, Thanks, Wow” she asserts that there are three essential prayers (and every prayer is a version of these).

·      Help! where we ask for intercession and assistance from God,

·      Thanks, where we give God our thanks and gratefulness for what he’s done  in our lives and where we appreciate what we have, and

·      Wow, which is essentially worship, or being in awe of God and his power. 

Often, my prayer is simply, “Help!”. One prayer God never fails to answer is that He is always with us. That’s not to say we always feel his presence, but he is always with us, helping us to get to the next moment. 

In our current Wednesday morning Bible study, No Other Gods: The Unrivaled Pursuit of Christ by Kelly Minter, one of our activities was to look up fifteen scripture references to fear and write down its antidote. As you may have guessed, each set of verses spoke of God’s companionship and calming presence in our lives. While needing strength isn’t always the same as fear, we can know that God will be with us when we call on Him in each situation.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to press ahead into the next step, whatever that may be. Maybe it’s just the next hour. Renew my strength and continue to be with me. Amen.

Donna Gustafson