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Devotionals

When You Have Nothing Left

By: Laura Jane Anslow

It was the end of another long day. I was exhausted.

I had spent the day saying the same things over and over to my children. Constantly reminding them to be kind and helpful. To show love to each other. I felt like I wasn’t making any progress.

I whispered to the Lord, “When will they learn?”

I was reading through Luke 5 and came across the story of the great catch of fish. Simon Peter had been fishing all night without catching a single fish, however, when Jesus approached him the next morning, He tells Peter to go out deeper and cast his nets again.

“Master we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 

-Luke 5:4 NIV

What was Simon thinking in this moment? Didn’t Jesus know they were at the point of exhaustion?

They had tried everything. They gave it all they had and came up empty handed.

I know these feelings. I’ve been there too. Each day I give my all. Each day I teach and train and guide my children. And yet I often feel like I haven’t made a difference. Yet Jesus asked Simon to trust Him and try again. How would you respond to that?

Can we reply as Simon did?

“Because You say so…”

Do we trust Jesus like that?

Simon didn’t know what was about to happen. He was tired and out of options. He had been doing the same thing all night. Would this even make a difference?

This is where Jesus steps in. When we have nothing left.

  • Are we willing to trust Him in that moment?  
  • Can we make the choice to obey Him?
Open hand with the quote, "When we have nothing left . . . Jesus steps in."

When we do, we see He is right there with us.  He is ready and willing to renew our strength. All I needed to do was let Jesus in, wait on Him, trust Him, and stop trying to do everything in my own strength.

(Which, by the way, is extremely limited when raising four children at any time, let alone in the middle of a global pandemic.)

God was asking me to trust Him with the hearts of my children. To trust that He knows them best, He knows what they need, and He knows I need Him.

He didn’t ask me to go fishing, but He did ask me to keep going.

I am the Mumma that He chose for these precious ones and I need to lean on Him for wisdom and patience in the training of them.

In Philippians 4:19, Paul says that God will supply all my needs, according to His riches. So, when I have nothing left, He has everything I need.

I didn’t stop reading there though. Notice what happens next in the story.

Woman looking up with quote, "When we have nothing left . . . Jesus steps in."
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After they catch such a great number of fish that their nets start breaking, Simon is obviously overwhelmed. Jesus, knowing this journey will take great faith. And knowing they will have to constantly walk in obedience and trust as they follow Him, speaks peace to Simon.

He says the words we hear repeated throughout the Gospels . . . “Do not be afraid.”

At that, Simon and the other fisherman gave up everything they knew to follow Jesus.

He speaks the same peace to us.

Trust Me, do not be afraid, I am with you.

He knows our journey of Motherhood will take great faith. He knows we cannot do it on our own. We will need to walk in obedience and trust Jesus daily. We need to remember that when we find ourselves with nothing, everything we need is always found in Him.

Did you find this encouraging? Then please share!

Picture of author of guest post.

Meet the Author: I am a wife to my Handsome Hubby and Mumma to our four beautiful children. I love reading and writing and speaking about the truth and love of God. I am passionate about my relationship with Jesus and love doing this life with Him. I am in awe of the power of God’s Word and the revelation of His Truth to bring freedom and wholeness to our lives. I am on a journey to discover my identity as His Beloved and live from the truth of His Word, not the burden of this world. Follow Laura Jane Anslow on Facebook or Instagram!

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