Walking With Strength

The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.  He is my God, and I will praise Him, my Father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”  Exodus 15:2

For twelve years, I worked in the field of addiction and recovery as a counselor and family life educator.  One of the most challenging experiences for me was working on an all-male residential unit; many of the men were dually diagnosed and had been in and out of the doors of treatment and recovery many times.  Often, we would have to send some of the men to a near-by hospital to receive medical attention; when you are active in the throes of addiction, you don’t do a very good job of taking care of yourself....  When this occurred, it was not uncommon for the patient to request another patient to accompany him to his destination.  The men would refer to this arrangement as needing “strength” to go with them.  I understood that reference to mean that an addict alone is bad company.  When people are in the early stages of recovery, it is more than difficult for them to resist the temptation of their demons – their drug of choice. Having a companion along to help resist old behavior and bad habits serves as support or strength for the addict in recovery.   In theory, this is a good concept.  We all could use support; someone to be our strength when we are weak – that’s assuming that the trusted friend isn’t experiencing a moment of weakness as well...

I asked the Lord to send me strength – strength to effectively parent my children.  Recently, I have come to the realization that I allowed my oldest child, Joshua, too much independence and responsibility too soon.  Joshua was supposed to be the perfect child; he was not supposed to present with any challenges, because after all, I had more than my share of challenges with Malachi.  So I took my eyes off of Joshua.  I expected Joshua to handle way more independence and responsibility than he was ready for because I needed him to; I was overwhelmed with managing all of Malachi’s medical and educational issues and didn’t have the focus and energy to attend to Joshua in the way that I needed to.  It’s really painful for me to admit that.  I know this admission to be true because I am currently witnessing Joshua struggling academically; he is easily distracted and hesitant to ask for help with his studies – he feels like he should be able to figure it out on his own.  And the lesson I am teaching him is the lesson I am learning for myself as well – we all need help sometimes.  Life has given our family a lot to manage.  We can’t expect to be strong all of the time.  We can ask God to send us strength and He will, but more importantly, God is our strength. He is “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  Psalm 46:1   We can’t always count on strength from a well-meaning friend because we are weak in our humanity.  We can, however, count on God to be our strength for He has omnipotent power!

I choose not to wallow in my parenting error with Joshua – that would be a waste of precious time and energy.  I choose to be excited about our second chance!  I have a chance to renew my relationship with Joshua; a chance to be instrumental in his intellectual and emotional growth and development. I have a chance to cement a fresh bond with Joshua and I am excited!  I’m excited to help mold and shape this beautiful, unvarnished piece of clay – my son, my Joshua!   I’m excited for the discoveries we will make together and who we each will become in the process.  I’m excited to see the finished product – the man of God that Joshua will become.   And best of all, I have a chance to experience God as my strength.

Question of the Day:  Think of a time when you felt weak.  How has God been your strength?