Trusting God and Others
Trusting God can feel easy. Trusting others… not so much. Trusting God and others can bring up mixed emotions. When we are going through difficult times, it can be even more difficult to allow other people into our lives. At least, that has been true for me.
Opening the most intimate parts of our lives can be scary at the best of times. When there are things we wish we could keep from anyone knowing, it can feel even more terrifying.
As Christians, we are good at sharing our blessings with anyone who will listen. And that is a good thing. We should celebrate together.
We should also mourn together.
Isolation vs. Community
Isolation can feel safe. It can provide the space we think we need. It can even feel responsible.
But isolation feeds the lie of judgment. Isolation tells us that we are better off alone. Better off without anyone knowing what is happening inside of us.
Isolation leads to death. Maybe not physical death, but certainly spiritual death.
God did not create us to live in isolation. He created us to live in community.
Community begins to break down isolation. It removes the loneliness. It begins to push back against the feelings of judgment and fear.
Not all at once.
Not perfectly.
But slowly and steadily.
What Are You Seeking?
When my family was going through the most difficult time in our lives, we began by pulling away. By sheltering ourselves from everyone and everything.
Then we sought community.
We sought people.
It turns out there are plenty of people who are more than willing to share your burden. People want to be needed. People love to help.
People do not love to need.
We All Need
Being needed feels easy.
Needing feels like being a burden.
That is how I saw things until I let go of those feelings and allowed people to help me. I discovered that when I said no to help or didn’t share what I was going through, I wasn’t just protecting myself.
I was preventing someone else from being blessed.
God wants His children to share each other’s burdens.
And that burden is not always financial. Sometimes it is simply sitting with someone. Listening. Not offering answers. Not trying to fix anything.
Sometimes the greatest thing we can provide is simply our presence.
If you are in a position to lessen someone’s burden, however that may look for you, do it.
Let God bless you.
If you are the one carrying a burden and you need someone to share it with, let them.
Let God bless you.
Blessings
God wants to bless His children. And He often uses His children to bless one another.
Trusting God and trusting others may be difficult. Opening ourselves to others may feel risky. Needing someone may feel like weakness.
But when we allow ourselves to receive what God provides through other people, we discover blessings that isolation could never provide.
We were never meant to walk the trail alone.
What are you protecting that needs to be released?
First…
Listen to the podcast:
Then…
Consider who God may have placed in your path. Who has God placed to walk beside of you through life?
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