My Turn to Help

I remember when my life changed dramatically with the birth of our first son. 

I had never envisioned motherhood to be so chaotic!  All my dreams of gently rocking my Little one while Reading nursery rhymes or visions of my family sitting happily around the dinner table and the delicious meal I had lovingly served up somehow never even came close to becoming a reality.

I never fathomed the amount of mess one small child can make!  Or the amount of work....

I can remember going through the day picking up spill after spill, thinking up game after game for entertainment, burned dinners (or no dinners), late nights and early mornings... and beginning to countdown from the time Corban woke up from his nap at 2:30 to the arrival of my husband and HELP. 

At 5pm I called to see if he had left work.  At 5:15 I called to see how traffic was.  At 5:30 I wanted reassurance that he was indeed headed my way--- and if he wasn't in our garage at 6pm Sharp it warrented another call.  My ever patient husband never complained. 

Then suddenly the oldest was 3 and we had a newborn and the chaos didn't doublé- but rather multiplied!  With a colicky baby who cried all through the night and an energetic pre-schooler who bounced and bubbled all through the day I was once again counting down to 6pm... only this time around the countdown began at about noon.

There were days when I shed tears of joy upon seeing my husband walk through the door.  And when he was home (because several nights a week he wasn't) there was someone to help encourage the pre-schooler to eat while I nursed the baby, someone to help with the baths, someone to help with the bedtime routine.

SOMEONE TO HELP. 

But in Genesis I am told that God made Eve to help Adam.  It seems to me that I have spent a good part of my married life waiting for help to arrive.  At some point I forgot that I was actually called to help. 

So as I examined my life recently I realized that it is time to stop focusing inward and turn my focus outward.  I realized that it is my turn to help.

I began to pray in earnest about ways that I can be my husband's helper.  I began to look for opportunities to help him acheive his goals and arrive at his dreams instead of counting down for him to help me with mine. 

God is answering my prayer.

The company where my husband Works has just asked him to take over another department which will be a challenge for him.  I am so proud of my husband who never backs down from a challenge and does everything to the very best of his ability.  But this new position means a huge sacrifice for our family.  At least for a while he will most likely be coming home late, maybe several days a week long after the children are in bed.  He will likely have more work on the weekends meaning less time for us.

And so now as I contemplate what the very near future holds for us I know that I cannot countdown for help to arrive.  I am going to be facing long evenings with the kids alone.   I am going to be entertaining the children alone on Saturday afternoons to keep them away from Papi and his computer.  It is my turn to help by doing it cheerfully and making sure that my kids know that Papi is working hard because he loves us. 

It is my turn to help.  And as I am in the middle of misión teams, ministry obligations and plenty of work of my own I pray for grace to enable me to be the helper I am called to be.