Supporting Our Rock

I call him our Rock, because every day he carries our family.  Each one of us depends on him and his solid, unwavering strength.  But a Rock can only stay strong for so long.

After my last blog post, describing how even the strongest Rock can become weary, we were overwhelmed by an outpouring of love!  Many of our friends are asking, What can we do?

It’s not an easy question to answer, because in general, men are hesitant to ask for help.  Even Moses, a Rock for an entire nation, needed someone to help him recognize, You cannot do this by yourself!

We see the story in Exodus 18.  It took Moses from morning until evening to carry out his many responsibilities.  When his father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said to Moses, What are you doing?  Why are you doing all this alone?  This is not good!  You are wearing yourself out!  This is too heavy for you.  You are not able to do it alone.  Look for able men, men who fear God, men who are trustworthy, and let them help you. They will bear the burden with you, and you will be able to endure.

In the same way, the Rock in our family has been wearing himself out, supporting me while I battle cancer, taking on many of my responsibilities at home, caring for our children, all while holding down a full-time job.  The words that Moses needed to hear are the same words my husband needs to hear today:  What are you doing?  Why are you doing all this alone?  This is not good!  You are wearing yourself out!  This is too heavy for you.  You are not able to do it alone.  Look for able men, men who fear God, men who are trustworthy, and let them help you.  They will bear the burden with you, and you will be able to endure.

So, who are these able men, men who fear God, men who are trustworthy?  And how can they help?  Here are just a few ideas, although the possibilities are endless!

Our Rock

I call him the Rock in our family.  Through the many tumultuous years of foster parenting, through the endless challenges of raising children with complicated needs, through deep heartache and pain and loss, and most recently through my vicious battle with Stage 4 cancer . . . through it all he is the one who has remained strong and courageous.  Resolute and steadfast.  Endlessly optimistic and confident.  The one who has never stopped believing in the goodness of God.

I call him our Rock, because every day he carries our family.  He works diligently at his job so that we can have an income, and so that we are provided with much-needed medical insurance.  Every day he faces a stressful job where many people depend on him for direction and decisions.  Decisions worth billions of dollars for his organization.  

After a long and stress-filled day, he comes home to a wife who may or may not be feeling well, who may or may not be crying, who may or may not have enough faith to make it through one more day.  After helping the kids through dinner and their bedtime routine, washing all the dishes, folding the pile of laundry left on the couch, and opening the mail (tasks I struggle to do because of painful and debilitating nerve damage that the cancer has caused in my arm and hand), he then has video-conference meetings with his colleagues who work in different time zones on the other side of the world.  He is the last one to go to bed at night, long after everyone else is asleep.