Marie Carlisle
"Give me strength as you promised and I shall live; don't let me be disappointed in my hope."
My attention was drawn to this verse because of the first three words. It was not too many years ago that it dawned on me that, instead of asking God to do things for me, I, instead, needed to be asking Him for the strength to do things effectively for myself. At that point, I was desperate to lose an amount of weight that I had put on after my retirement from teaching, but I thought it presumptuous and shallow of me to ask God to take that weight off for me. So, I began including in my prayers a request for the strength to lose weight — and I lost forty-two pounds!! God heard my prayers and responded by strengthening my resolve to help myself. So now, I know for sure that, as the old adage goes, God helps them that help themselves.
We must not sit back, say our prayers and expect God to do the (ahem) heavy lifting, even though He is, of course, perfectly capable of doing just that. But why should He? If we will only add our own efforts and respond with open hearts and minds to all of those great and good things that God offers us each day, at all times, we will never be disappointed in the hope that we place in Him who is never more that just a silent, sincere prayer away.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for all of your blessings, including that of strength that we may rely upon when we are most in need of it through your grace and love. Amen.
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