In the dark hours of need, You humbly asked Your three closest friends to be praying for You. As You writhed in agony in the garden, they fell asleep. The Son of God asking for prayer;vulnerable, transparent, human. Even after a second request, they were unable to stay awake to support You with prayer in Your desperate time of need.

I wonder if this is why You tell us clearly, You do not sleep, You do not slumber. In all of our dark times of crying out in anguish, You never fail to be there for us; fully alert, fully present, fully caring, fully able.

Psalm 121:3-5 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow my foot to be moved; He Who keeps me will not slumber. Behold, He Who keeps me shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is my Keeper; the Lord is my shade at my right hand.

Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.

Thank You, Jesus.

John 6 describes how the hungry multitude came at You. When You voiced the dilemma of feeding so many (already knowing what You would be doing), Andrew said to You,” There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”. Your response? “Make the people sit down.” You were not deterred by his lack of vision, expectancy or faith.

I think of how often I say the same to You…”What is my little against the bigness of the circumstances of my life?” In Your Hands–enough.

I am so encouraged and comforted by Your response to Peter when he got out of the boat to walk to You (Matthew 14:28-32). His enthusiasm and devotion is impressive as he cries out,”Lord, if it is You, command me to come out to You on the water.” And it is truly amazing that he hopped out at Your command onto the dark sea. And then how like us to be suddenly aware of the overwhelming truth and threat of the crashing waves of our reality. And he was afraid and began to sink. But immediately You reached out Your Hand to pull him up ; You did not stand back aloof waiting for him  to prove his faith, You did not wait for an eloquent prayer, You did not wait for him to repent of his doubt, You did not withhold Your Hand until he offered some action to earn Your Touch. IMMEDIATELY, the Hand of the Almighty reached out to help the desperate man. And I can rest knowing You do the same for me.

The quicksand of dark days seem too powerful and I find myself feeling like I am going under. Close and far, tragedy, evil and chaos abound. Old ways of my heart surface and I begin to wonder if I have angered You and thus the lack of any noticeable improvement in the many painful situations.  Humbly, hesitantly and awkwardly, I ask if You would please show me that You love me as I sit out in the night darkness; feeling bad I have asked because I so desire to have faith and confidence in You and to fight the good fight. I timidly ask for a falling star and barely catch a glimpse of the brightest shooting star I have ever seen. And as I continue to sit and pray, I suddenly see something I have never seen before; the stars above in the line of a cross. The Cross. The Cross. The Cross that says, ” Dear child, I couldn’t love you more, I couldn’t love you less”. The Cross that says,” On your own, beloved one, you will always fight human tendencies- weakness, sin, fear, worry-BUT My Cross, My Resurrection will give, has given, gives ALL you need to walk Hand in hand, Heart to heart with Me in victory. Lean into Me. Hold on tight. Don’t let go in fear, failure or apprehension no matter how the enemy or your old ways entice you. On your own, you will never make yourself worthy enough; I have spared you of the need to even try. My Arms, My Heart, My Love, My Power carry you. Always. Consistently. Unconditionally. So you can rest. Your human mind will not grasp this reality without faith in the impossible. And I AM God of the Impossible. Rest. Believe. Let Me carry you. Don’t climb down in a frenzied attempt to do something of your own accord. Rest in Me. I can. I will. I am able. And I want to. I love you, precious child, beyond your ability to comprehend. Rest. Believe. Accept.”