It’s just after sunrise in the middle of winter and I’m standing at a sink of dirty dishes. The fields are beginning to turn a faint blue under the gray morning sky. Snow is blowing up the hillside and I can hear the wind’s haunting cry on the back porch. With both kids still asleep, I try to still my heart before the day races ahead of me. Before the steps creak under their feet, before the phone starts ringing, before the coffee is even poured. I’ve already seen my husband off to work—watched his truck lights pull out of our snow-covered driveway. My hands plunge into the warm, soapy water and today I’m asking only this: Lord . . . help.
Needing God’s Help
Names and prayers spill out of my mouth as the suds turn on last night’s water glasses and forks. The day might be new and surely His mercies are too, but the to-do list is long and my fears are weighty. My children are growing and with their growth comes with more unknowns than I could have ever anticipated. My parents are aging, and I stand with one foot in each world, growing life and launching my kids, and cushioning the weight of life for those who have gone before me. Deep questions, deeper pain. My husband and I often find ourselves turning to prayer as it seems the only answer to the days and weeks ahead.
The list of things to do looms over my shoulder like a snickering, money-hungry taskmaster that wants my time, my wallet, and my attention. Here in the dark, quiet early morning hours, I’m asking the Lord to hear me, see me, and help me as I scrub last night’s pasta sauce from the pan.
God Cares About Your Life
Here in this small town in western New York—I know the Lord sees me. I know this because He has shown me in the Scriptures, repeatedly, that not only does He see His people in this world, but He sees them in the time, place, town, and even cultural moment that they live in. We are not an amalgam of time and story to Him; one giant heap of people who all need saving. We are individuals, placed within our timelines, placed within the story of God who is saving His own. God shows up in our stories, smack dab in the middle of our time, place, struggles, and daily routines.
I know this because of Ruth—“In the days when the judges ruled.” I know this because of Hagar—“The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.” I know this because of the woman at the well—“…so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.”
I know this because of Jesus—“in the days of Herod the king4.”
Time and time again, God shows us that where we are in the timeline matters to Him. The time of judges. The time of Herod. By a well. In the desert. In a small town called Bethlehem. Here in western New York in the middle of winter. In a dark kitchen full of dirty dishes.
God Answers Prayers
He doesn’t wait to answer prayers for perfect cathedral moments. He doesn’t demand we pray in a way to earn His attention or favor. We are not tiny voices calling from the chasm, hoping that God notices us.
He’s right here, in the kitchen, next to me. While I feel torn with my heart and the mess of my hands, He knows that I’m a fragile frame, between the dust of creation and death. These things matter to Him. So, I pray again, Lord . . . help, as the glasses drip and the sounds of the tea kettle pull me to the next thing.
And surely, He will.
Andrea G. Burke
Andrea G. Burke is an author and is on staff at Grace Road Church in Rochester, NY. She is married to Jedediah, and they are raising their two kids, two dogs, two cats, a few strays, three ducks, and a lot of chickens in an old farmhouse outside of the city.
