I’ll Be There For You
Four simple words can mean the whole world to someone.
“I’ll be there for you”
Those four words softly spoken when a person is feeling hopeless, weak, or powerless might change their outlook at the moment and help them hold on a little tighter.
No one likes to feel as if they are facing things in this world alone. Being there for someone will help them tremendously, even if there isn’t anything you can specifically do for their situation other than offer prayers. Showing support and encouraging others has to be real and genuine. If it’s forced, fake, or doesn’t come from the heart, it will show and make matters worse.
I’m sure there have been times in your life when you’ve been there for someone. Yet, when you are the one in need of support and encouragement, no one can be bothered. It hurts when this happens, and if we’re truthful, there have been times we all have encountered this in our lives. Right off, I can think of several individuals I have been there for in their time of need. While it wasn’t my battle, I showed up with my armor on and weapons drawn ready to fight right alongside them. Together we were strong and a force to be reckoned with. Fast forward to years later when I’m the one in need, and I put on the armor, grab my weapons the best way I can, and proceed to fight alone.
Alone.
No one should ever feel as if they are alone. In a world with seven billion people, surely there is someone out there that can help fight this feeling.
Yesterday I witnessed a lady come into the office wearing a brave face, determined not to let her hurt show. However, after a few minutes, she dissolved into silent tears. As she waited for her appointment, I couldn’t sit there and not acknowledge her tears. I offered her a tissue, then reassured her the best that I could. She smiled as tears streamed down her face. After her appointment, I let her know that I would be praying for her as she made her way to the exit. And I meant it, every single word.
Prayer is a powerful weapon all on it’s own. Calling out to the Great and Almighty God that we serve does NOT fall on deaf ears. He will ensure that in a world full of seven billion people that are in such a hurry to go here or there that you are NOT alone, for He is always with us. We can’t see Him, but we can be comforted in the knowledge that He is there! When others we have helped along the path in life simply do not have the time nor desire to return the favor, God is there to help us. All we have to do is cry out to Him. He already knows what is going on, He just simply wants us to invite Him into the situation.
When you pray, know that God has His hands outstretched saying to you, “I’ll be there for you, My Child.” Take His hand and fall into the loving arms of your Heavenly Father.
I know you are like me and would love the companionship of the friend you helped when their father was going through cancer treatments, and you were rallying alongside them. Or the friend that faced their mother’s health concerns. Even the friend that was bi-polar that you took to the hospital so they could receive the treatment they needed. Someone … anyone …
Just know that God is there. Through it all. And He always will be.
Different Strokes For Different Folks
Sitting in my office scrolling mindlessly through Facebook, my phone begin to ring as I held it in my hand.
“We need to schedule further testing.”
~heavy sigh~
No one wants to hear that, but instead of sticking my head in the sand I went forward with scheduling appointments.
As I tried to go about my day, I reached out to a select few individuals for support. I encountered different reactions for sure, and it made me think of the saying I heard long ago of “different strokes for different folks.”
The first individual I reached out to said right away that they would pray for me, and I believe it with my whole heart that they have and will continue to do so. The second individual didn’t take it so well and begin to “freak out” over the situation and question, expecting me to say something more or different than I had previously. Yet, the answer would remain the same. The third individual was no support whatsoever as they found every negative to grasp ahold onto in our limited five minute conversation before I found a reason real fast to hang up. I felt worse after reaching out to this person than I had before placing the phone call. Another individual reassured me that I can always count on them, while the final person I chose to engage quite literally laid their hands on me and begin to pray for healing.
We all have different ways in which we deal with things that come at us. In my situation, I chose right away to go in for more bloodwork and the ultrasound the doctor recommended. Others in my own family would have chosen to take a few days to “roll this around” as they thought on it before actually going in for additional testing. When I was told that the scheduler wouldn’t be in until tomorrow, I asked if I could schedule my own ultrasound. When advised that I could, I took the bull by the horns and will be seen this afternoon.
There’s no guidebook that tells you how to navigate the waters in life. You just do the best you can, and I imagine each of these individuals feel they handled it to the best of their ability. I appreciate each one for they have shown me who they are and how I can count on them in various different ways. For the one that chose to immediately encourage me with knowledge that they would pray for me, my heart thanks them completely because I know that ALL things are possible with and through God. For the person that had a “freak out” moment, I know that I have to be selective about what I tell them in moments when I’m feeling fragile so that I do not “freak out” even more so myself due to their energy. For the individual that piled every negative and felt it their job to shovel doom and gloom on top of my head, they have taught me never to reach out to them again for support because encouragement is foreign to them. And for the precious individual that laid hands on me and began to pray, I cried … there was no holding back those tears at that particular moment in time. All that I had been holding back the entire day came like a flood past the gates or like a river bursting through the dam, as the tears spilled down my cheeks.
Let this be a lesson to choose wisely who you turn to for support and encouragement. And follow the believers who will take it to the Lord in prayer each and every time. When we feel hopeless and not in control of anything in this life, we can take it to the One that controls everything.
I may not know what tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds tomorrow.
Church People
This movie was an interesting one, for sure. It began with a very successful youth pastor capturing his audience and delivering messages of scripture from the Word of God. Touring all over the country, he became very much a positive influence to anyone that would take the time to listen.
During one sermon, someone threw him a beach ball on stage asking for him to sign it. He wasn’t sure what that was about but signed it anyway and threw it back into the audience. The crowd absolutely loved this so much, and upon seeing this, the marketing manager decided this would be a new promotional tool to gain further success. However, as it turned out, the beach ball ended up becoming a huge distraction from the actual sermon!
The main preacher started to become more and more successful with his audience and with his antics, even wearing a superhero outfit. All of these things began to distract even more from the actual Word of God! Sadly, because the youth pastor was not in agreement to this new marketing plan, he was asked to leave and subsequently got laid off. As you can imagine, the frustration mounted with this outcome.
We won’t spoil the movie for you, and it DOES get better … so we encourage you, instead, to watch Church People! The outcome was amazing!
#ChurchPeopleFilm #ChurchPeopleMIN #MomentumInfluencerNetwork
Disclosure: Many thanks to Collide Distribution for providing this product/product information for review. Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.
