Can’t Sleep? Don’t Count Sheep!

“My eyes anticipate the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word.” Psalm 119:48.

  • Good morning Sunshine!! Are you ready to spend time with your Jesus? He is always with us and available, but there is definitely something special about having a few moments to stop and focus on Him and His precious, amazing Word.
  • Go grab your Bible, a delicious something warm to drink and your journal. Go to the place where you meet with God and ask Him to speak to you as you read His word.
  • Read Psalm 63:6, Lamentations 2:15, Psalm 119:48 and Luke 6:12. Write your favorite one of the four verses in your journal.

Can’t Sleep? Don’t Count Sheep!

Your bedroom is nice and dark, and the temperature, for once, is just right. But then, right in the middle of a wonderful, sweet dream, you hear a noise invading your silence that sounds, at first, like a squeak. The little squeak turns into a cry, and then into a full-blown wail! Oh, my goodness, what IS that noise?

Oh wait, it’s the baby…

It couldn’t be. It really shouldn’t be…

Weren’t you up with her like 2 hours ago?…

You trudge out of bed and head down the hall in answer to your sweet little cherubs call. Finally, after nursing both sides, a diaper change, and carefully laying your little sweetie back in bed, you sleepily walk back to your room, exhausted and ready to get at least a little bit of sleep.

You lie there and lie there, rolling over from side to side in an effort to get comfortable and sleep. But to your dismay, Mrs. Sleep is alluding you. This usually faithful friend seems to have escaped to some far off wonderland, never to return.

Your mind is racing, and the more you think about not being able to sleep, the harder it is to fall asleep.

What do you do? Do you lay there and fret, or do you get up?

This actually happened to me last night! I lay there for hours and hours, and the sleep still wouldn’t come. Finally, at 3 am, I decided to get out of bed and break open my Bible, asking the Lord to minister to me through His word. My Bible actually opened up to John 15:5, “’I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.'”

Oh. Well, look at that. God wants me to rest. He wants me to stay close to Him and stop fretting and feeling anxious.

You see, God knew exactly what my heart needed, and that I needed to be woken up in the middle of the night, when all is quiet, when it’s just me and Jesus, to hear what was on His heart for me. It is amazing to me how the Lord knows what we struggle with, and how He points us specifically to the passages we need to read to be encouraged!

You see, if I were completely honest, I have felt completely overwhelmed with the calling on my life to lead the Help Club for Moms. I thoroughly enjoy my job and all the details it entails, but I feel utterly inadequate much of the time, and recently the demands and leadership responsibilities have caused me to feel anxious.

I do not feel anxious because of the workload of the ministry. No, I love to work hard. I feel anxious because, before Help Club, I was a stay-at-home mom who homeschooled her kids and worked part time helping other people in their ministries, but never held the leadership position. In all honesty, I am out of my league!

But God in His wisdom called me to greatly step out of my comfort zone and follow Him into the great unknown. He instructed me to invite women to join my team from all walks of life, who all have children in their home and demands on their time, to serve the Lord together, relying on the Holy Spirit and the power of God to encourage other moms in their great callings with their families. We are a motley crew, but love the Lord with our whole hearts and love doing life together.

So, this is why the Lord woke me up. He wanted to tell me that all I have to do is stay close to Him each day, one day at a time. He deliberately showed me this sweet passage to encourage me to trust that He will lead me as I lead our team and the ministry. He tells me through this passage that He will do His part, all, I have to do is mine- to stay close to Him moment by moment and listen for His leading in each and every situation.

The funny thing is, when I had children in my home, I couldn’t sleep then either. Believe it or not, I felt out of my league then too. I was overwhelmed at the thought of raising up children in a Christian home. I had no idea how to do it!

I grew up in a very dysfunctional home where there were constant unrest and anxiety. My sweet parents divorced and then our whole family began an uncontrollable downward spiral and sadly, fall apart. Since my family didn’t go to church, here was no body of Christ to help us, and I felt entirely alone as my life fell apart.

I desperately wanted a different life for our children but didn’t know to raise up children in a Christian home. I spent many days and nights crying out to God for help, feeling lost in my inadequacy as a mom.

And one day at a time, God in His faithfulness taught me everything I needed to know, and here I am, teaching other women how to raise up kids for Jesus and have a Christian home. Only God could have done that!

So, why am I telling you all this? It is my prayer, that you, like me, will get out of bed on those sleepless nights and crack your Bible open and ask the Holy Spirit speak to you. He is so faithful!

As I write this, I am running on maybe two hours of sleep but I feel great! Before I left my quiet time chair in the wee hours of the morning today, I asked the Lord to give me the energy I needed to do all that He has called me to do. And you know what? He answered! I got to come to a beautiful coffee shop, sit outside, and write this Bible study to encourage you, my sweet reader friend, to trust the Lord when you can’t sleep and feel tired.

The next time you can’t sleep, try it! Get up. Pray and spend some time with your Jesus. Who knows, but it probably is Him waking you up anyway. Just sayin’.

Questions to Ponder:

How about you, sweet mama, are you having trouble sleeping? Or maybe you feel anxious about one of your children, a fight that you had with your husband, or that bill that still need to be paid?

Take a moment and do a “stress dump.” Write down each and every situation or complaint that is on your heart. Pray for the Lord to guide your hands as you write and don’t stop until you’re done. Don’t worry how your handwriting looks, just keep going. Stop when you need to.

Faith-Filled Idea:

Now, take that list and say to the Lord, “God, I need you. I can’t handle the stress from this stuff. Please take this from me and help me to rest in you. Help me to Let. It. Go!”

Now, rip that list out of your journal, fold it up and put it in a box somewhere. Don’t look at it again for six months. You don’t have to look at it, but if you do, you will be amazed at what all you worried about. Take a moment to write a prayer of thanksgiving to your God for helping you through this difficult time and ask Him to help you to keep trusting Him with all of the stresses and problems that come your way.

 

Deb Weakly

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