Have you ever had one of those moments? Those moments when you feel unsure and when life feels heavy. Those kinds of moments when you’re not quite sure that you want to keep on keeping on or that you even have the strength to do it. Those kinds of moments when you know that you have got to have it all together, but you just don’t. I have. 

The truth is I probably have them a few times every day because life is hard and if you are blessed, it can be long. So, you will have many opportunities for moments that give you pause, that leave you feeling burdened and in need.  But it’s not those moment I want to focus on here.  I want to look at our response to such times.  

You see today I tried a different response.  Most often I feel those moments and try to handle it on my own.  After all, I’m supposed to have it altogether.  Today, I didn’t feel strong, so I changed my approach.  This time I reached out for help.  

Here’s what I did. I phoned a friend. I don’t know if you remember that game show where you could phone a friend for help on one of the questions. It was a one-time offer for the game show. Sometimes phoning a friend helped the contestant and they were able to answer the question. While other times they didn’t choose the right friend, and it wasn’t much help. So, it wasn’t just that I phoned a friend that mattered today, it’s that I phoned the right friend. 

We love to sing the song “What a Friend we have in Jesus” but do we really know him as friend, as someone who we can share all our griefs and sorrows with.  I called on my friend Jesus.  Well, technically I called a friend to pray and agree with me in prayer.  We were calling on Jesus together.  

See this is the amazing thing.  I phoned a friend to phone a friend.  She called on Jesus on my behalf.  Perhaps it would have been the same if I had just whispered a prayer myself.  Yet it encouraged my heart that she interceded for me. The effect was immediate.  No, my situation didn’t change.  Not the burdens of the day, the challenges I was facing, or the doubts I was staring down.  Yet in that moment, my focus shifted up.  I saw the one who could truly deliver me.  You see he delivers us on the inside.  He gives peace that passes all human understanding.  How can we be at rest in the middle of the storm? We can with Jesus.  He gives us hope, that our present suffering pales in comparison to what he has promised us to come.  He gives us rest, because we can stop striving and let God fight on our behalf.  He gives us comfort through his Holy Spirit and his presence that never leaves us or forsakes us.  And unlike that game show, we can call on him again and again!  There is no one time limit on our phone a friend.  

When life is too hard to stand, as the sign says in my room, kneel in prayer.  It’s funny, I’ve had that sign for years now, but I got it today.  “Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.”  

My friends it’s time to phone a friend in those moments, well in all moments, but especially in those.  When you feel weak, call on your brothers and sisters in Christ to lift you up in prayer.  Or call on him with your own lips, from your heart. Either way, you are calling on the one, the only one who can truly bring relief. 

 So, I ask you, in the words of the great hymn “Are you weak and heavy-laden, Cumbered with a load of care?  Precious Savior, still our refuge— Take it to the Lord in prayer.” Yes, my friend, take it – your needs, your desires, your tears, your joys, the best of your moments and the worst of them.  Take them to our Lord in prayer.  He is a friend like no other, so call on him today!