Courageous Need

 

Peace family, if you struggle with letting others give back to you, this weekend, I want to challenge you to be honest about the areas where you need a little extra care, and allow someone else to pour into your life.

Whether our needs are emotional, spiritual, or material, it can be so hard to show someone else what we need. Not only does it make us have to trust someone else to help us, but it proves that we aren’t perfect, and that we can’t do everything on our own! Those false beliefs are very tempting, and very destructive. It can be especially hard for people who habitually take care of others to accept care for themselves, but that’s what our family in Christ is for. If you help others all of the time but never accept any help for yourself, you aren’t giving anyone around you the opportunity to give back.

I love the rainy weather, but to be honest, I was feeling pretty blue yesterday afternoon. In fact, I felt like there wasn’t much that could make me feel better, except maybe for petting a cat, but I don’t have any cats right now. I felt pretty silly, but after I thought it over and swallowed my pride, I sent a text message out to my group of friends that I share prayer requests with. I admitted that I was feeling sad and asked if anyone had a cat that I could just come over and pet. Do you know what? My friends didn’t tell me that I was stupid, or that I needed to get my emotions together and pull myself up by my bootstraps and grow up. Instead, they offered cats, dogs, a bunny, and even horses to pet! I ended up spending some much needed quiet time with my friend Becky and her cats, and we ate macaroni and cheese together. It was exactly what I needed! My whole spirit was lifted up, and as I drove home, all of the things that had been troubling my heart just didn’t have that much power over me any more. On the other hand, if I had decided not to share my needs, I probably would have felt gloomy the whole rest of the evening.

Peace family, take courage. Share your heart, including your needs and hurts, with others. Love others, but let others love you, too. Even if all you need at the moment is to pet a cat.

Anyway, just a few thoughts from your friendly, neighborhood Kat.