Increased Strength

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He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Isaiah 40:29

We have loads of critters exactly like this one in our backyard, always scampering about trying to get at the birdseed. Actually, we like them. The other day when my daughter let our dog out, a fairly young squirrel like this one tried to escape via a dead limb which broke, dropping him with a loud banging sound atop our outdoor grill. He fell onto the ground, lying there limply whereupon our dog Fro hurried over (of course) and picked up this poor helpless creature in his mouth. Neesie , who was horrified, hollered at Fro to "drop it" (he's been trained to drop whatever he has at that command), which he promptly obeyed, and Neesie dragged him (Fro, not the squirrel) inside and then locked our bewildered dog in his crate. She came and got me and both of us stood at the back sliding door with sad hearts, watching this poor little bushy tailed animal trying unsuccessfully to lift itself up. We thought perhaps it had injured its spine or something. Finally, I did something: I prayed for him. Agree with me or not, that's what I did. I asked the Lord to either take him out of this world and end his misery or help him to get out of our yard. About 30 seconds later, he turned on his stomach and inched forward a bit; then, after another minute or so, he began to scamper at a pretty good pace across the yard and through the fence! A few minutes after that, we saw him heading up one of the bigger healthy trees in that yard!

I don't know what happened to him after that, of course, (they all look alike you know), but what a beautiful lesson this little critter was for me on Matthew 6:26 and the above Scripture. There have been and certainly will be times in my life and yours when we are physically, emotionally, and spiritually sapped of all strength. But the wonderful Creator God of this universe, who cares for the smallest of His creatures, won't He care for each one of us and increase our strength for yet another day in the journey?