24/7
I know that you feel on call 24/7. You don’t just feel it; you are! What is amazing to remember is this: God is on call 24/7, too.
A friend and I recently chatted about the current situation that Ray and I are in. With sweet conviction, coming from one who knows this keenly herself, she comforted me with the reminder that we can call on God 24/7.
Acts 17 tells us that for believers and unbelievers alike, God “is not far from each one of us.” James promises:
Draw near to God
and He will draw near to you.
James 4:8
The book of Hebrews teaches us that Jesus is a great high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. We homeschooling mamas know our weaknesses and that they are many. After all, our 24/7 responsibilities and challenges remind us of them again and again. Hebrews also teaches us that Jesus’ role as our understanding high priest comes with a promise:
Therefore let us draw near with confidence
to the throne of grace,
so that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16
Jesus Himself took advantage of our Father’s 24/7 availability.
It was at this time that
He went off to the mountain to pray,
and He spent the whole night
in prayer to God.
Luke 6:12
And this Jesus who can sympathize with our weaknesses promised us:
. . . lo, I am with your always,
even to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:20b
Two phases of a mama’s life cause us to feel the 24/7 responsibilities of our job more acutely:
- The baby/toddler stage when our children wake us over and over and
- The teen/young adult stage when late night talks keep us up and then sometimes keep us awake while we mull them over afterwards.
Mother and Sleeping Baby by Alice Pike Barney, 1911
Courtesy of Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney
and Natalie Clifford Barney
in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney
When we are living through those nights of sleep deprivation—and the others that come our way, too—it is comforting to remember that God is awake with us.
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes for the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
Psalm 121:1-4