Sometimes, when life gets crazy, it’s time to breathe a prayer.
My mother was an amazing woman. I never knew how she kept it all straight, but she was always busy with something or other and seemed to be involved in everything. She directed the church choir, the elementary school choir, taught private music lessons, and seemed to be involved in every club available. The woman was always running from activity to activity, often with us girls in tow.
At some point during the day (usually late morning), Mother would sit at the kitchen table and read her Bible. She always found time, even if it was just 5 minutes.
She also voiced sentence prayers throughout the day. “Lord, help me find…” “Thank You, Lord, for a beautiful day.” “Lord, be with Roger today.” “Help Nancy to remember what she’s learned and do well on her test.”
At the time, we didn’t always appreciate Mother’s sentence prayers. Sometimes they didn’t seem to help at all.
One time, God gave me a severe attitude check and taught me the power of those sentence prayers.
While I was living in Ft. Worth, I spent a year delivering food all over Fort Worth. When we started the night, we were supposed to have a full tank of gas and be in uniform. Then we’d wait for the switchboard to tell us the information we needed for our first order. They’d send us the name of the restaurant (and which one if there were two in town), the time we were supposed to pick up the food, and the delivery address. This was before GPS, so they also gave us where to find it in the atlas of Ft. Worth. Our job was to pick up the food, get to the customer, collect the money, and bring it back to the restaurant.
Simple, right? It was until we got busy.
Our busiest times were during rush hour and when the weather was bad. Those evenings we raced from one end of the city to the other, filling order after order, with no time for breaks. Often we’d wait to bring the money and credit card slips back to the restaurants until we officially closed for the night. On those days, we could spend an extra hour (or more) going to restaurants all over town to settle up.
(Public Service Announcement: Please tip your delivery people well. It’s not an easy job!)
My aunt and uncle also lived in Ft. Worth. Every time I came to visit, my uncle asked me how many miles I had on my car. We were all greatly entertained by how quickly they racked up.
One night when my mother was visiting, I was due to start work and we didn’t have time for me to drop her off at my aunt and uncle’s house. Mom decided to sit in the back seat and just ride around with me. I warned her that it would be a busy night with no time for bathroom breaks or stops. She said that was fine, so away we went.
It was a pretty typical night, quickly racking up the miles… until I had a delivery in an apartment complex. Do you know how hard it is to find a specific apartment building number quickly… in the dark? (Cue: internal scream)
On this particular delivery, I spent way too long driving around the complex trying to find read the building numbers and find the right one. I was expected to pick up my next order at the restaurant very soon. Plus, it was the restaurant that got upset if you were even one minute late.
My inner frustration started coming out of my mouth.
Then I hear Mother praying in the backseat. “Lord, please help Nancy find the right building and make her delivery.” My response thankfully did not pass my lips, but my head screamed, “Mom! You’re not helping!”
Then I found the apartment. Right away. Sigh. Ok, God, You’re right. I should have been praying, not seething in frustration.
Do you know the funny thing? Now I catch myself doing what my precious mother did–sending up short prayers throughout the day. I usually don’t voice them, but then I remember Mom’s example.
My mother lived out her faith in front of us kids. Mid-morning on days when I wasn’t in school, I’d catch her at the kitchen table with her Bible open. She faithfully served in the church until the day she died. She loved people, and everyone knew it. Most of all, she relied on her Lord and Savior every moment of every day.
Children are watching even the small things we do. What kind of example am I living out? How about you?
I am so thankful for the witness of my mother. I pray many, many more children experience the example of godly women in their lives like my mom was for me.
How about you?
We all mess up. We all fail from time to time. But what will you do when you fail? What will you do when you get overwhelmed? Will you give up? Or will you turn your troubles over to the Lord?
I needed that course correction this week. Do you?
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