It can be extremely rewarding to give freely, help others and show up for them in a time of need. Acts of kindness can include the dedication to pray, make a meal, drop off groceries, pick up kids, help with yard work, give of your time, write a note, send encouragement, drop off a gift; so much beauty exists in the offering of whatever is needed. The giving side of a relationship can encourage others to receive the blessings through love.
Why is the other side of help so difficult?
There is a humble process involved in being on the other side of help. Receiving help requires the faith and hope that someone else will not only hear and acknowledge your need, but also be willing to meet it. The hesitancy to express that you have a need can oppress the vulnerability of asking and receiving; silencing the basic fundamental need for love. There is an intense pain felt in the human spirit if the need for love goes unmet. It is a pain that reinforces the thought of feeling unseen, unheard, unworthy, invaluable and unlovable. A pain that can resonate deep and separate you from knowing the true love of God. If you only operate from the giving side of help, can you truly receive the love God may bring your way through others?
Is it better to give than recieve?
A relationship with Jesus Christ begins with acknowledging the need for a savior. When you accept Him into your life you open the door to the other side of help, receiving the greatest blessing God has ever intended for you. Receiving this gift requires the change from operating in your own strength to the reliance on that of God’s. A relationship with God encourages a humble, teachable spirit that communicates your needs to Him, asking for a spiritual intervention and a reliance on what cannot be seen. Choosing to have a relationship with Jesus starts with receiving and focuses on a lifetime of serving and loving others through the love that is first given to you. Navigating the question of how you receive help can highlight false beliefs you may hold about the worth and value God sees in you because help, received or given, is a language of love.
The other side of help reveals another side of healing…
Operating within your own strength can be a way to find protection from the fear of rejection and abandonment. Self reliance can be a coping mechanism that creates a sense of safety; an attempt to avoid criticism, opinion and judgement. Self reliance can also be a way to avoid the feeling of weakness, because at one time in your life you may have had to survive without acknowledging your needs at all. Identifying your needs initiates a vulnerable stance, stepping away from the dependence of self and towards relationship with others. Asking for help and also receiving it, can introduce you to another side of healing. A process that can teach the valuable lesson of trust; knowing that you are seen, heard, acknowledged, valuable and worthy of love.
Help is a glimpse of God.
The other side of help creates the opportunity for you to encounter God’s amazing, lavishing grace, mercy and love. Receiving help reveals that God is good and that God is kind. He can orchestrate healing in the places where you may have believed that needing help was a bother to others or God. It is just as important to receive help as it is to give it because both sides offer a glimpse of the love God intends for you to know. Help is the type of love that can heal your past and protect your future.
Help….a language of love.
Psalm 121:2 (NIV)
Scattered Rubies 