“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” –Matthew 25:35
At the end of my days this is what I want people to say about me. This is the kind of person I want to be when I grow up. I have spent a lot of my time being selfish in these early years. Truth is I didn’t really realize that I was selfish until fairly recently. It isn’t an intentional selfishness, but one born out of being to caught up in how everything effects me. Of not being able to see outside my little corner of the world. I have seen examples of these kind of people at work in my life. My ex is one of those people. I learned from watching him for our short time together just what it looks like to truly love people. He just loves people. All people. That is still one of my favorite things about him.
About a month after the breakup I had the opportunity to help a friend who had fallen off a roof and broken his back. Let me start by saying that friend is fine, up and walking and everything. But he needed a good bit of help once he got home from the hospital. This particular friend isn’t one who likes to ask for help, but thankfully he felt comfortable enough with me to ask for the help he needed anyway. I didn’t do a whole lot for him, just little things like the dishes and vacuuming. I learned something from that experience. It was easier to stop thinking about the great pain I was in during the times I was helping him. When I was focused on meeting his needs I wasn’t focused on me. When you are helping someone it makes it easier to step outside of your own situation. It takes the magnifying glass off of you for awhile. It was a good thing to be able to step away from all my many feelings and spend some time placing that focus elsewhere. It’s something I need more of. It’s in focusing on others that we become more like Christ.
This is my prayer. Feel free to change it to meet your needs.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this beautiful life. For pain that creates growth in me. For the glimpses of promises that are left just for me to discover. I thank you for my lasting sense of hope and of the moments of unspeakable joy that you create for me. I pray that you would strengthen me in the areas where my faith is weak. I ask that you create in me a servant’s heart. A heart that thinks of others more highly than myself. Chase out all the selfish ways that dwell within me. Bind my will to Your will for me. Let me not take single step that is outside of your will for my life. I thank you for the promises that your Word affords me and for the purpose you hold for me, now and in the future. I pray all these things in the precious name of Jesus.
Amen
There are many ways we can be the hands and feet of Jesus. Reaching out and serving His children. I urge to listen to the Spirit’s urging and follow His call for your life, for your time. You just might find a little healing through serving others.
Godspeed,
Mollie <3
Only God can heal a broken heart, but there are things we can do to help foster self healing. This post is part of my series 31 Days of Self Healing. You can find the rest of the posts for this series here.
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