Are you ready to fight?

Hi Mamacita!

Have you ever been in a fight? I’m not talking about a verbal spat where you get into it with your sister for wearing your sweater. I think we can all check that box. I’m talking about a real fight.

We had some friends over recently and the topic of childhood fights came up. I listened to my husband talk about the one time that he was in a fist fight as a boy. Then it was my turn to share. Most people are surprised to find out that I was in a fist fight once. They are even more surprised when I tell them that I was fighting a boy. To be fair, it wasn’t much of a fight. It didn’t seem to me that he knew how to throw a punch, or maybe he was taught to never hit a girl. At the time, I didn’t care about his morals, I was throwing punches.

As a girl who isn’t afraid to fight if I have to, I struck a cord with another woman in history who wasn’t afraid to fight. This woman was known as Molly Pitcher and she unexpectedly stepped into battle during the American Revolution.

When I first read the story of Molly Pitcher and saw an artists depiction of her, I got what my mentee calls the “cry voice”. As I was reading to my oldest son as a part of our history lesson, I tried my best to keep reading without him hearing my voice tremble. Her story is truly remarkable.

YOu have that “cry voice” like my mom.

– Sarah, my teenage mentee keeping me humble

As was the custom at the time, Molly followed her husband William when he enlisted as a gunnar in the Continental Army. Her actual name was Mary Ludwig Hays, but she was called Molly by those on the battlefield for two reasons. It is said that women in that time period who were named Mary were often called Molly. Molly would help during battle by using a pitcher to bring water back and forth to the men who were fighting. This is why she received her nickname “Molly Pitcher”.

On June 28th, 1778 Molly’s husband was fighting the British in the Battle of Manmouth in Freehold, NJ. The hot weather that day was brutal which made it particularly hard to fight, especially for the men like her husband who were maning the cannons. Molly worked tirelessly to bring water from the spring to the men to drink as well as to use to cool their cannons.

History goes on to tell us that in the middle of the battle, Molly’s husband William fell to ground next to his cannon unable to continue to fight. What happened next is incredible. Molly dropped her pitcher and took up her husbands place at his cannon. There she continued to fight in his place.

This image of Molly Pitcher standing over her fallen husband while taking up his place in the battle impacted me unexpectedly. It was in the moment that I saw this picture that I felt the Lord revealing her story’s spiritual implications.

This picture of Molly reminds me of what is written in the Bible. In Psalm 144:1 it says, “Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.”

The majority of the Psalms including this one were written by David. If you remember, David grew up with his family as a shepherd boy. It was his parents who trained him to spend his life caring for sheep. His hands only knew how to play the harp and how to use a shepherds hook to care for his father’s sheep.

But neither David nor his parents knew what God had in store for David. Unbeknownst to everyone, God had chosen David to not just be Israel’s new king, but in doing so, David would become a man of war. Those young hands that used to gently pick up the sheep, would learn to pick up a sword. The fingers that plucked the strings of a harp, would later point countless men forward into battle. He was born a shepard, but he was destined to be a warrior king.

Let this be a reminder for you. Whatever it is that God has called you to, he either designed you for, or will fit you for.

Whatever it is that God has called you to, He either designed you for or will fit you for.

You may be like David once was and may not know exactly where you are heading to in life. David was living his life out in the field expecting nothing more of his days than what he had known. He never expected what God would do with him and how he would be used by God.

Like Molly, maybe you run back and worth helping other people fight their own battles. You many find solace and comfort with staying in your own lane and doing what you’ve always done.

But here is what I have learned about life. It can change in the blink of an eye. Both obstacles and opportunities will present themselves and you will have a decision to make. Are you going to fight? Are you prepared to fight this battle?

I can tell you from my own life experience that if the Lord is your God, you can be sure that whatever job, challenge or circumstance that lies ahead of you, that God will prepare you for your battle. You may not already be ready to fight, but God can and will train you for your fight.

Like Molly Pitcher, all you need is a little fight inside.

Are you in the middle of a battle? In what ways do you see that God is preparing you for your fight? I’d love to continue the discussion below. Leave a comment. Let’s connect!