I once heard a woman, who's name I have forgotten, speak at our church during a women's luncheon on sharing the gospel. I forgot her name, but I have never forgotten her message. The most important thing I took away from her message that day was this. People don't want to hear what they should or shouldn't be doing. They want to hear how the gospel has made a difference in YOUR life. MY life and how has the Lord made a difference?
I have a life that at times even I sometimes think sounds like a soap opera. On my own I would never have been able to get through these situations. I don't have a perfect life or even an easy one and many things I have gone through I would never have chosen. But, because I have went through them I have been able to reach out to others going through similar situations in a way that I never would have been able to before.
I have a deeper understanding and compassion and my eyes have been opened to see hurting hearts and when another is aching and broken inside. I do believe the Lord heals and binds up our wounds, even our spiritual and mental ones. I also believe he uses others to come along side the heartbroken and help them move forward.
Ecc 4:10 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
Yes, woe to him who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Grief can be consuming and a grieving individual with no one to help or care or have a loving hand extended is much more susceptible to depression and prolonged grief. I'm not saying there is a time table to grief either. I am saying lifting another up can help them move forward instead of being stuck in their grief.
Those who are hurting spiritually can be hard to get near and that is why kindness and manners, empathy and compassion are so important. They are important all the time, but especially when someone is hurting, grieving feeling alone.
When my first husband died I wasn't in church. I had no relationship with the Lord and yet I turned to him. I've asked myself over the years why did I turn toward the Lord when so many turn away during times of crisis and grief? I think , for me, the answer was I had a friend who cared enough to call and keep calling and checking on me. She wasn't a friend at the time, but she became a very good friend over many months. When others forgot or turned away or my grief became something others felt should be over she kept coming back and lifting me up. In the beginning she didn't know me from Adam, but she saw that I was hurting and she was always there and she kept being there. I can tell you it did make a difference.
Over time she led me to the Lord. If she had turned away or forgotten my grief, if she hadn't kept lifting me up when I was down I probably wouldn't be where I am today. Because she made a difference in my life, years later I have been an influence in my daughter in laws life. I think it's important to note that by lifting one person up we never know how far reaching that will be. How many lives will be touched and effected by reaching out to one. Sometimes living our faith in our lives touch more lives than we could ever imagine. God worked through a stranger who became a friend to reach me!
I found this movie on netflix and it had such a message of kindness, compassion, empathy and expressed manners so well that I want to share it. It's a bit of a tear jerker, but I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Watching this will definitely be part of our school day today. Hope it blesses you as it did me.
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