HOUSE OF ROBERTS BLOG

I’m not someone who likes to journal. I’ve tried to pick up that discipline many times throughout my life, but I’ve always struggled to stay consistent with it. I’ve even bought cool-looking journals to help motivate me. It didn’t by the way, but I do have a good collection of blank journals now. With that said, I started 2024 with a conviction to try to journal again. Gabrielle and I would be entering a year like none other for us, and I felt like I would need an outlet. So I grabbed one of my cool yet manly-looking journals from my shelf and I started to write.

It’s now October and I would say that most days I write something. Sometimes I write out prayers that are in my head, sometimes I write out requests that I have for God, sometimes I write out my doubts, fears, and frustrations. But some of the words that I find myself writing consistently is, “God help me.”

I think that is one of the most genuine and spiritual things you can write and prayers you can pray. Yet I wonder how often you personally make that request of God? I get it, generally, it’s hard for guys to ask for help, I know I don’t like to. I struggle to ask for help so much that if I’m in a store and can’t find something, I’d rather walk out than ask an associate for help. Ever done that? 

Here is what I think. One, most dads struggle to ask for help, and two most dads need it pretty badly. It’s okay to need help, in fact, if you’re authentically following Jesus, you will find that He will lead you to places where you need Him more not less. In fact, a sign of spiritual maturity is more dependency on God, not less. And guess what you are going to have to pray a lot on that journey? “God help me.”

It’s good to need God’s help at work, in your marriage, and when it comes to raising kids. It’s good to need God’s help to walk free from an addiction or to add a new healthy discipline in your life. Needing God’s help is a good thing, so ask for it. Pray it. Whisper it under your breath before you are about to give that presentation at work. Think it while you are in the middle of an argument with your son. Repeat it after me now, “God help me.”

God won’t fail you Dad; He loves you and is for you. So this week, pray that prayer as many times as you need to. I leave you with what Psalms 121 says about the God that you pray to.

Psalm 121:1-8, “I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! 3 He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. 4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. 7 The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. 8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”