"Come and talk with Me"

 "Come and talk with Me."

The whisper of the Father echoes in the mundane.

It rustles through the soul in the chaotic.

      As I wash dishes...

      As I clean up messes...

      As I wipe tears over and over...

      As I start yet another load of laundry...

      As I ponder the things about my children that perplex me...

      As I long to go away and be alone...

      As I force myself to get up off the couch (after having just sat down) to meet yet another need or to clean up another mess....

      As I wonder how to point my children in the right direction...

      As I take my daughter to the potty again after just doing it 15 minutes before.

      As things I try to get done constantly get interrupted.

"Come," He says, "tell me all."

But I don't hear.

"This doesn't matter very much to Him," I say, "I'm just a mom doing mom things. I'm not trying to conquer the world for Him." 

"Come and talk with Me," His whisper gently nudges me again. 

"How could He care about this?" I reason. "He's never been a mother."

I continue on in my work, limping along.

"Come," He says yet again. "Look at my face."

"I have too much to do," I reason to myself. "Besides, the moment I go to Him, I will be interrupted." 

I take yet another step, but strength drains quickly. 

"I deserve a pity party," I tell myself.

So, I hide in the pantry, scroll on my phone and eat chocolate.

Again, the faint whisper: "Come to Me..."

But I ignore the voice. I feel too tired to even think about it.

Besides, what could it mean?

A scream from the other end of the house jolts me. I muster up whatever strength is left and run to see what's wrong.

Anger rises up within. Why can I never get a moment's peace?

I need to process life with someone, but there is nowhere to go, except...

"Come and talk with Me..." 

Finally, I hear it as a sweet invitation.

Finally, I look up into His face and see He fully understands and cares.

Finally, I take Him in and realize He is inviting me close to His heart.

"Lord, I'm coming," I respond.

...

"My heart has heard you say, 'Come and talk with Me,' and my heart responds, 'Lord, I'm coming.'" (Psalm 27:8)

What will you do with His invitation, dear child of God?

Does your heart hear His sweet call? 

He wants you to bring those burdens to Him. 

He wants you to cast yourself at His feet and let Him be to you all that you lack. 

He sees you far deeper than you realize. You are understood. You are cared for.

And you are not being judged by your heavenly Father. 

Your Heavenly Father welcomes you as-is.

He doesn't need you to be or do enough simply because He wants to be your enough. 

He isn't going to add to your task list. Instead, He will take your task list, and help you discern what is actually important on it and what is not, and then give you the strength to do what is actually needed. 

He isn't going to impose more rules for you to follow. Instead, He is going to lift your burden and exchange it for the One He calls easy and light. 

He doesn't need you to do more or be more. He doesn't ask you to rise to a certain standard of anything that others raise. 

He just wants YOU. 

My friend, will you hear His sweet call? 

"Come and talk with Me..." 

You are welcome to tell Him all. 

And the beautiful thing is, He also wants you in on His heart.

"The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him." (Psalm 25:14) 

Will you venture ever closer to Him and listen to His heart? 

His heart towards you is good and only good....

If you have no words for what you're feeling, you can still sit with Him. He sees the wordless groans of your heart, and He understands.

Your burdens, your brokenness, your weakness, your pains, your struggles, your exhaustion -basically, all that makes you come up empty when you look within yourself- is His opportunity to show Himself strong to you.

...

"...I was given a thorn in the flesh...Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.'" (2 Corinthians 12:7-8)

Jesus met that deep need in a more intimate way that Paul was asking.

Every void the thorn was leaving, the grace of Christ and the power of Christ came rushing in to fill.

So don't bear your burdens on your own. 

Don't allow frustrations to simmer or irritations to drive you insane.

Don't allow self-pity to be the voice that you listen to and drain you of all your strength.

Don't allow pain to drive you inward and leave you helpless.

Don't allow chaos to drive you to look for an escape in temporal things, and thus to never really find what you need.

In all of these things, His whisper is constant: "Come, my child, and talk with Me."

Look up. Listen. 

He is inviting you near to His heart. 

Will you go?