Susan Besze Wallace - Always There: Reflections for Moms on Gods Presence

Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

Psalm 73:23

W hen I am armed with only a hair dryer, the cascade of my thoughts starts to fall steadily.

The friend I havent talked to in a while. The need to work with my toddler on writing his letters. The work idea. The warmth of my mothers eyes. The brainstorm for the second grade talent show. The room I need to disinfect. The selfish way I tried to fend off husbandly advances last night during dinner-making, annoyed, before allowing myself to be hugged.

Sometimes I weary of my merry-go-round of a mind. I used to think that if God were involved in these thoughts, it could only be in laughing at how my thoughts resemble a game of dodge ball.

Motherhood has taught me otherwise.

For those ten minutes with the dryer, I am still. Captive to vanity (or necessity, if you could see what my hair looks like if it dries on its own), I drown out all other sounds save those in my head and heart.

For a while, it was the only place I gave God a chance.

He isnt laughing at me. He is leading me. Toward that friend, toward patience, toward priorities. He was just waiting for me to hear him and realize that he is right there, in all the nooks and crannies of the busy, exhausting, and exhilarating job of being a mom. Of being me.

Hes in it all, and not just when we choose to thank him or plead with him.

Its one thing to know, in your mind, that God is everywhere. Its another to feel, in your soul, that he is in your everything.

Its easier to feel him when you are holding a delicious, sleeping baby than when you are forced to walk through Target with a smear on your shirt from a public diaper change gone awry. But God is with us in both the rocker and the rocky.

The question is whether we are acknowledging him. And how our lives would change if we were constantly aware that we dont do anything alone.

Throughout the Bible we are shown examples of God communicating with his people. God spoke to Joseph in dreams (see Gen. 37). He spoke to Moses through a burning bush (see Exod. 3). Adam and Eve heard Gods voice when they were hiding from him in the garden, afraid because of the bad choice theyd made (see Gen. 2). David heard directly from God when he asked him where he should go (see 2 Sam. 2).

Drought or flood, God was there. Whether they were experiencing new life or retching in guilt or grief, he was there. And between those extremes, in whatever normal was, he was there too.

God still speaks to his children, and certainly his childrens mothers, in a variety of ways. Seeking him is the surest way to be aware of his presence. Whether its in prayer, serving his people, reading his Word, or calling out ungracefully in a moment of total maternal madness, we are told to come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16 KJV).

Many of the devotions in this book represent such coming before the throne. For some, it was falling down in front of it, as motherhood can bring us to our knees oftenand for so many reasons!

My hope is that through reflecting on the words of other moms and the words of the Bible you will be encouraged to find God in the daily. Hes with us at the hair dryer and the clothes dryer, in our firsts and our frustrations, in moments of great joy and great discouragement. When we call on him, even when we feel like simply calling it a day, he hears us.

We can lead and love our families better when we remember he is our loving leader, a grace-giving heavenly Father, a God who is always there.

Lord, help me open my heart to your presence in all facets of my life.

Fill me with love to pour out onto my family.

Susan Besze Wallace