“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Psalm 46:1
Not every early morning is about the person who wakes up. Sometimes the reason for the interruption to sleep has nothing to do with what’s currently weighing on the one who’s awake, and everything to do with someone else entirely — a friend, a family member, a stranger who will cross paths later that day.
That’s an uncomfortable thing to sit with, honestly. There’s something in most people that wants the early wakings, the sudden impressions, the unexplained urgency to be about their own need. It’s disorienting to realize the assignment is to carry a word for someone else first, before receiving anything for yourself.
But that’s exactly the kind of interruption worth paying attention to rather than resisting. Being woken up not for your own word, but to carry one to someone else, doesn’t mean you’ve been overlooked. It means you’ve been trusted with something that isn’t about you — and the fortress that held you through the waking holds both of you through the carrying.
God is a very present help in trouble — not only the trouble that’s currently yours, but the trouble someone else is walking through that you may not even know about yet. Sometimes being used that way is the whole point of an otherwise unexplained morning.
Prayer
Father, if I’ve been woken or interrupted for someone else’s sake and not my own, help me carry it faithfully rather than resisting because it isn’t about me. Thank You that You are a refuge for both of us in this. Use me today to carry what someone else needs. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Declaration
Sometimes I am woken not for my own word, but to carry one to someone else. The fortress holds us both while I do.
