“I need Thee, O I need Thee; Every hour I need Thee; O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.” -A Hymn by Annie S. Hawks & Robert Lowry
I find myself singing the Hymn above many days when I am aware that I need an infilling of God’s Presence in my life. And while I yearn for Jesus each day, there seem to be some days that I am more desperate for Him than usual – this morning was one of those times. I admit that during my years of private practice as a counselor I felt God’s Presence each day as I ministered to the hurting and I am aware of God’s anointing on my life when speaking to women at conference’s and retreats. But as a stay-at-home mother, I have often struggled with feeling God’s Presence while handling my everyday ordinary challenges, such as, temper tantrums, changing dirty diapers, laundry and keeping the house picked up (which is near-ending task with a toddler)!
No matter where you are in life – we all need God’s Presence with us during our everyday, ordinary life. God longs to be with us each day, no matter what we are doing. The truth is that God is just as powerful within us while standing in line at our local grocery store as He is at our church. Why is it that we put God in a box and simply “open” Him up for Sunday mornings and fail to see that He is always near us? Wherever we are is Holy ground. Selah (pause and think about that for a moment).
So let’s begin to ask for God’s Presence in our life no matter how mundane our day may seem. Our prayer might be something like, “Jesus, will you be with me today while I go to work, workout at the gym, cook dinner, talk to friends of the phone, play with the kids and take a few minutes to read the Bible and pray? Help me to hear your voice and acknowledge that Your Presence is with me at all times. Amen.”
All we have to do is ASK and He will help us with our everyday, ordinary life. I don’t know about you, but I need Jesus every hour! I want to experience His Presence every moment of everyday. It is because of the work of the cross and the Precious Blood of Jesus that we have the Holy Spirit who yearns to speak to us! Oh, that we would hear the voice of the Spirit this day!
Prayer:
Lord, I ask that you be with me today. Forgive me for not acknowledging Your Presence while performing my everyday, ordinary tasks. I am so grateful that I serve a God who longs to be with me every moment of my day. I ask that You go before me today and make all the crooked places straight, create rivers in the desert and move the obstacles that are before me. As the Hymn states above, “I need Thee; O I need Thee; Every hour I need Thee; Bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee!” Amen.
Tracy,
Thank you! I have been struggling with this the last couple of days! Thank you for the reminder and uplifting words! I love you!
Kristen
I love this Tracy! Thank you for being so transparent. He has been dealing with me in this as well. As I said before, at the beginning of the year we joined with our church in a 21 day fast. One of the things I was seeking answers too?? How to reach my 2 year old. With some major behavior issues, potty training (no) staying in the bed (I don’t think so!) I had exhausted all of my “Super-nanny”/”Super-mom” techniques. But asking Him to come into my everyday life and give me some simple answers to parenting, I found breakthrough! I mean He created her, certainly He knows even better than I what she really needs right. Seems logical, but so easy to forget in the midst of pulling out our hair, and casting the tantrum devil out, right? 🙂
Love you! Thanks again!
Oh, Trac….I wish I could tell you that struggling to keep the house “picked up” is only something that occurs during the toddler years. Truth is….even when your kids are 12 and 9, it’s still a challenge. I NEVER get caught up on laundry….There’s always dishes to be washed and toilets to be cleaned. BUT PRAISE GOD for His anointing and presence during our everyday lives! I so agree with you! God is there….He never leaves us. We’re the ones who “forget” or “get too busy” to spend time in His presence. But it’s HIS SPIRIT that helps us enjoy the beauty and the challenges of motherhood!
Tracy, I’ve always loved this hymn, especially once I read about Annie Hawks, who wrote it. I found her explanation of writing it on Cyber Hymnal:
One day as a young wife and mother of 37 years of age, I was busy with my regular household tasks. Suddenly, I became so filled with the sense of nearness to the Master that, wondering how one could live without Him, either in joy or pain, these words, “I Need Thee Every Hour,” were ushered into my mind, the thought at once taking full possession of me.
Annie Hawks was speaking from the point of view of a woman taking care of her family and home. It’s a powerful thing to acknowledge that we need God not only in emergencies, but also in the everyday.
Thanks for these posts.