Daddy Help Me!
My car died this morning. I backed out into the street, put the car in drive, and continued to roll backwards. “Mommy, why are you driving backwards?” My three-year-old protested in the backseat, as I fought the steering wheel to miss the electrical pole in our yard. Praise the Lord, I missed it and finally stopped the car. Knowing my husband was a good 45 minutes away, I grabbed my phone and immeditately called my dad. Here I am, 33-years-old, and I still need to say, “Daddy, help me!”
I am blessed to always have help nearby. But even in those moments before I called my dad on the phone, help was already with me. I honestly felt it. Our God is omnipresent (He’s everywhere at once) and, as a believer in Jesus Christ, I have the Holy Spirit with me. God also gives us wonderful promises in the Bible to let us know that He is always there. He says to “cast [give] all our anxieties on Him because He cares for us,” (1 Peter 5:7). God also says He is our Heavenly Father, and like a good dad, He gives “what is good to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11).
Like tax season is one of those “fun” (not at all) activities to test your marriage, car trouble generally tests our attitude. In the stress of the situation, we are tempted to swear, yell, worry, or take our stress out on others. As the tow truck left with my car, I thought of the song by Francesca Battistelli, “This is the Stuff.”
Here are the lyrics of the first verse and chorus/bridge that came to mind in the middle of my car trouble:
This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that’s getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I’m blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I gotta trust you know exactly what you’re doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff you use
So break me of impatience
Conquer my frustrations
I’ve got a new appreciation
It’s not the end of the world
Silly song aside, God does use trials and frustrating situations to grow us. He tells us in Romans 5:3-5 that “3…we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;”. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says that perseverance is “continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition”. In short, it means keep going when things are hard. (As I write this, I just got the call that my car’s repairs cost more than it is worth. It is officially dead.)
Not only is it tough to keep going when things get hard, but having a GOOD ATTITUDE about it during the problem is another matter entirely! That’s where it becomes an issue of character. Instead of crying out to our Heavenly Father, “Daddy, help me!”, stress often brings out the worst in our behavior and attitude. Unfortunately, for believers, when we let our bad attitude out, we tend to give an unappealing testimony to those around us. They see our behavior and question our commitment to our faith.
Thankfully, our God is also a God of second chances (and more). He uses the “small” daily stuff that drives us crazy to teach us patience and perserverance, so that when our character is tested in a big way, we can succeed in leaning into our faith instead of our attitude.
Someone told me once, don’t measure your growth by looking at yesterday, last week, last month, or even last year. Go five years back see what the Lord has grown in your life. As I thought of the Francesca Battistelli song this morning, I remembered another car trouble day 11 years ago where I did not succeed in a good attitude. I took my stress out on those around me.
But today was different. Today Daddy helped me. My Heavenly Father kept my mind clear and my heart calm as I fought to steer the crazy car with my two precious baby boys in the backseat. The car stopped and I leaned into my Heavenly Father instead of my worries. I counted my blessings:
My boys weren’t hurt.
We didn’t hit anyone or anything (electrical pole!!!!)
Help was close by. (Thanks, Dad!!)
It wasn’t too cold or snowing.
We have emergency fund money to handle the situation. (I recommend Dave Ramsey!)
I have a flexible job so I didn’t have to rush.
And so much more!
We have a long way to go as we try to grow to be more like Jesus. Don’t measure against yesterday or other people. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you…” (James 4:8).
