HELP ME! HELP ME!
Many times we find ourselves in situations where we need help. When we are young, it is easy to say; "Help me! Help me!" As we grow older it becomes more difficult to ask for help. It is difficult to admit that we can be helpless. We will try very hard to overcome our difficulty but in the end, we realize if we could have just asked for help, life would be a easier. Failure usually is on the horizon when we can't ask for help and we keep struggling along on our own.

When my #1 grandson, Adam was almost two, we had been on the road. We decided to stop and visit the kids for a day or so before returning home. Adam had the flu bug! We arrived on Saturday and opted to stay home with him on Sunday to allow his parents to go to church and lead worship. Adam and I built a tent in the living room out of blankets and crawled around on the floor. Every so often I needed to attend to his physical needs! One moment he would feel good and then the next he was so sick. At one of these sick intervals, he was lying on the bed and with tears in his voice said; "Grandma, help me; help me!" My heart ached! I called the church and asked Faye if we could give him some Kaopectate. At this point I assured Adam that help was on the way. It wasn't long after we started the medicine, he began to mend.

We have Doctor's and nurses who can prescribe liquids, pills and even advice. We have across the counter medicines that are also in the form of liquids, pills and many books with advice. Trying to follow the directions can have its problems but many times all of this works and we get better.

My brother Lynn was undergong chemo and radiation treatment. The usual side affects became apparent immediately. As his immune system began to decline, his metabolism began to decline also and his numbers became lower and lower. His magnesium, potassium, white and red blood cells came into play and I know Lynn wanted to call out; "help me; help me!" Kathleen began to read labels more than ever before. She began to wrack her brain for the best foods and supplements to push down him. At one point she began to wonder what her mother and mother-in-law would do about getting more potassium in him. She narrowed in on molasses! Within no time his potassium levels began to increase. Now she was on a roll and began to look at magnesium. Through all of these experiments, Kathleen sought the face of the Lord!

"When you seek my face, Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:12-13 Proverbs 8:17 is one of those short phrases; "I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me." God has given us an avenue in which we can ask Him to help us. The avenue of prayer! In the sermon on the mount, Jesus specifically outlines how we should live. How we can fellowship with Him and His father who is in heaven. "Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you! For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it shall be opened." Matthew 7:7

Those of us who call ourselves Christians and walk among the saints in God's Kingdom, know that when we ask, seek and knock; God hears and will respond to our needs with His special love and care. Just like Kaopectate and molasses brought results to a physical need, God brings results not only to our physical need but to our mental, emotional and spiritual needs. Only through God can we experience the miracles of life! Lord, I pray that when I come to you it is with clean hands and a pure heart! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 9/19/08