At this time last month, I was miserable. Aches, chills, fatigue, cough, etc. By now you’ve likely heard that list from a large percentage of your friends, family, and acquaintances. I was lying on the sofa with 3 hot water bottles and a blanket, sick and facing 10 days at home by myself with no way to get supplies.
Enter my friends and family near and far. Over the next 10 days (or more), I was brought meals and groceries, offered video chats, messaged with offers of help or just to check on me.
I already knew I had some good friends here. I am often given lifts places or helped with errands to transport groceries or bags of coal, etc. But during those days of sickness and “isolation”, I realized just how much I am surrounded by people who love me. Even in the last week, that circle has expanded even more, with new friends offering help or responding to my requests.
As part of the course I’ve been doing during the past 6 weeks, I spend time each week reflecting on the tension between my gifts, my limitations, and my brokenness and how those areas interact in my life. God has been highlighting to me during the past couple of weeks how my limitations can actually be a gift because they make me dependent, not only on Him but also on other people.
Sometimes, the broken places in my life tell me that I am alone, or that I am a burden on others and should be more self-sufficient. But we were made to live in community with others. We need each other, and it’s good that we need each other. We aren’t meant to do life alone. In those moments when I begin to believe the lie that I am alone, I simply have to remember a month ago (or just this past weekend) and realize that I am surrounded by people who care. And there are times when I have something to offer them as well, and we live in the way we were designed to – interdependent, caring for and serving one another.
I don’t know if you’re feeling alone today. Maybe you’re frustrated with a limitation you have or feel like you can’t ask for help because you don’t want to burden anyone. The truth is, there are people who care about you. There is a God who cares about you. And you aren’t meant to live without either of those things. You are surrounded, and I pray God will open your eyes to just how loved you are today.
