When you wake up without strength, what goes through your mind? Eleven days after surgery, I feel worse now than the day of surgery. I looked in the mirror and said, “Oh, my gracious, I can’t stand to look at myself.” A pale woman without makeup and limp hair stared back at me.

“Oh, dear God, help me. I have a radio interview at 11:00 am on HeartWise, but I have no strength.” When you wake up without strength, do you tell God that? If you do, what happens next?

I sent a prayer request via email to my prayer partners throughout the US, Canada, and British Columbia. I wrote that I had a radio interview but no strength. One woman answered and said, “May you go from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:7).

As soon as the radio host called me, I felt a surge of strength gush through my body. The radio host and I laughed and talked as if I were in the sun room standing as in prior radio interviews full of energy, enthusiasm, and power.

Please don’t think I became Wonder Woman. God blessed me to overflowing with strength for the radio interview. So much so that when I hung up, I stared at the phone in awe. God answered my plea and helped me.

You may not have a radio interview, but you always have something to do. If you work outside of the home, you may be gone all day. At the end of the day, you return home to help the children or grandchildren with homework, prepare dinner, wash dishes, put a load of laundry in the washing machine, and tend to other household duties.

When you collapse into bed, you may wonder how you can wake up refreshed and ready to go again in the morning.

If you’ve lost a loved one or moved from one part of the country to another, you may wake up physically and emotionally drained, feel alone, and whisper a prayer for strength.

Be encouraged. God heard my prayer and that of those who prayed for my radio interview. The radio host asked me when my next book will be out because he wants to interview me again. He asked me to send him a copy as soon as it is published. Only God could have infused me with that much strength.

When you wake up without strength next time, what will you do?

Psalm 84:7a: “They go from strength to strength.”

Prayer: Dear God, I feel as I I’m operating on empty. Please help me go from strength to strength. Amen.

Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega III.XIX.MMXIX