Hold On

I have a playlist on my iPod for jogging.  I did some figuring to find out the right “speed” of song I needed to keep me moving during my workout, and then put a dozen songs of that tempo into a playlist.  One of the songs on my running list is by Smashmouth, a secular group that I listened to in high school.  Their song “Hold On” plays everyday while I run my 3.8 miles.  Here’s the first verse:

  Things are getting weird, things are getting tough
  Nothing's making sense but you keep on looking up
  They tell you to be true, you're trying every day
  You keep it on the real, still you gotta find a way
  To make your mama happy, to make your papa proud
  You gotta turn it up but all you hear is turn it down

The underlined parts always stick out to me.  Then the 2nd verse:

  Sometimes I wanna cry and throw the towel in
  They try to beat me down but I'll take it on the chin
  And everywhere I go the people are the same
  They just wanna know that everything will be OK

The chorus goes on to repeat over and over, “Hang on, Hang on, Hang on….”

Some days, a lot of them lately, I feel like this song.  Kind of like the scrappy kid just trying to hang on.  I have a hundred things to do in a day, and I fail often.  And there are always people there to tell you exactly what it is that you did to create that failure.  I feel like I “take it on the chin” a lot. Or here’s the one I absolutely abhorre, “I told you so”  Ugh!  It makes you want to not try anything, ever again!

And I spend a good bit of my day looking at the sky with a question mark over my head.  I have had SO MANY days this month where I have stood in the middle of my dirty kitchen with crying babies at my feet, and the phone ringing in my hand, and I look up to the heavens and think “God, WHAT AM I DOING?!  I’m ready to quit, HELP!”

I am striving to keep it all together, to be the perfect wife, and doting mom, the daughter that is there when she supposed to be, the boss who cares about her help, the leader that has it all together, and the Christian that is bringing new faces to church every Sunday.   Maybe a bit unrealistic?  I don’t know.  I am striving for those things.  I am striving for that ABUNDANT life that the Bible talks about.

There are scriptures that help with the worries, Like 1 Peter 5:7.

“Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.”

And sometimes it  is not worry, is just being overwhelmed!  Well, there’s a verse for that too (funny how the Bible works that way).  This verse:  Psalms 34:17-19.

“Yes, the Lord hears the good man when he calls to Him for help, and saves him out of all his troubles. The Lord is close to those whose heart is breaking; He rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. The good man does not escape all troubles – he has them, too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one.”

So as I sign off this time, I want to give encouragement again.  Because I know that I am not the only woman out there who is struggling with expectations and failures.  I know that I am not the only person thinking to themselves, “Just hang on”.

As I get up to take the dog to the groomers, and also give Ezra a bath (he has been puking this morning), and I think I heard the dryer just buzz in the laundry room… I know that the Lord helps me.  I know that I have to just hang on.  I have a hope in Christ that gives me life more abundant. An although I might fail, I might get overwhelmed and bogged down in my “busy-ness” I know that God promises to help me.  If I just hang on.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly – John 10:10.