As I have mentioned many times before, we have so many times felt blessed and comforted by the kindness of those people around us. We have had people do things as small as calling at just the right time, or as large as giving us a car, a few years ago when that became an urgent need. We have had everything in between those two extremes. There have also been times over the past decade, I felt as if I was drowning with an audience watching me, but not really offering any assistance. Often times I hear people say that they want to help a family struggling with special needs, but they just don’t know what to do. I have heard people say well if you need help, just let me know. At times when someone is in that crisis moment, they may be just too overwhelmed to ask for help, or not sure who to ask. Part of that may be pride, no one wants to be a needy person constantly asking for help, and some of it may be they have asked for help, and not received it. If you see a person drowning, you don’t stand on the shore waiting to see if they can save themselves, or if they will ask you for help, you jump in and help them, tell someone else, or at least throw them a life jacket. There are many, many things you can do to help someone. It may be as simple as calling or sending them a card to tell them you were thinking of them. You may be able to fix them a meal, baby-sit their kids, provide financial assistance, etc. You may want to try asking them what they need, or telling them what you can do for them. A couple of years ago, we had an emergency situation with our son, and needed someone to watch our daughters on and off over a few days. Ideally it would have been nice to have one person come in, so we could focus on our son and not worry about the girls, but that was not possible. I didn’t have time to call every person I had ever met looking for help. We had several people call us and offer to help, and those were the people we relied on to get us through those days. A couple of those people even said, I can’t do this, but I can do that, which was so very wonderful and helpful. Because they were honest and open about what they could do, I didn’t waste time asking them to do something they couldn’t. When I look back on that week I think of everyone that helped: the ones who watched the girls, the ones who offered meals, the ones who sent cards, money, or just called. I even have a friend who was drowning in her own crisis, but what I remember is she sent me a text that week. It took all of those people to get us through that experience. There are times, when I’m not in a crisis, and have had people ask what they can do to help me. That is always a hard question for me to answer, especially if I don’t have an obvious immediate need, primarily because I don’t know what they want to do. It would be very helpful if someone wanted to take our kids for the next month, so we could have an extended rest. Too much? Well it would also be helpful to say a prayer for our family on a day we are traveling for medical procedures. So if you have someone in your life that you know is drowning, jump on in and do what you can, I’m sure you will both feel better in the end.
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11
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Originally posted April 2012
As I have mentioned many times before, we have so many times felt blessed and comforted by the kindness of those people around us. We have had people do things as small as calling at just the right time, or as large as giving us a car, a few years ago when that became an urgent need. We have had everything in between those two extremes. There have also been times over the past decade, I felt as if I was drowning with an audience watching me, but not really offering any assistance. Often times I hear people say that they want to help a family struggling with special needs, but they just don’t know what to do. I have heard people say well if you need help, just let me know. At times when someone is in that crisis moment, they may be just too overwhelmed to ask for help, or not sure who to ask. Part of that may be pride, no one wants to be a needy person constantly asking for help, and some of it may be they have asked for help, and not received it. If you see a person drowning, you don’t stand on the shore waiting to see if they can save themselves, or if they will ask you for help, you jump in and help them, tell someone else, or at least throw them a life jacket. There are many, many things you can do to help someone. It may be as simple as calling or sending them a card to tell them you were thinking of them. You may be able to fix them a meal, baby-sit their kids, provide financial assistance, etc. You may want to try asking them what they need, or telling them what you can do for them. A couple of years ago, we had an emergency situation with our son, and needed someone to watch our daughters on and off over a few days. Ideally it would have been nice to have one person come in, so we could focus on our son and not worry about the girls, but that was not possible. I didn’t have time to call every person I had ever met looking for help. We had several people call us and offer to help, and those were the people we relied on to get us through those days. A couple of those people even said, I can’t do this, but I can do that, which was so very wonderful and helpful. Because they were honest and open about what they could do, I didn’t waste time asking them to do something they couldn’t. When I look back on that week I think of everyone that helped: the ones who watched the girls, the ones who offered meals, the ones who sent cards, money, or just called. I even have a friend who was drowning in her own crisis, but what I remember is she sent me a text that week. It took all of those people to get us through that experience. There are times, when I’m not in a crisis, and have had people ask what they can do to help me. That is always a hard question for me to answer, especially if I don’t have an obvious immediate need, primarily because I don’t know what they want to do. It would be very helpful if someone wanted to take our kids for the next month, so we could have an extended rest. Too much? Well it would also be helpful to say a prayer for our family on a day we are traveling for medical procedures. So if you have someone in your life that you know is drowning, jump on in and do what you can, I’m sure you will both feel better in the end.
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11 Like us on facebook
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