Don't be a loner!

"Bear one another's burdens..."
(Gal. 6:2)

This has been something that has been on my mind a lot recently. I have realized that I am a very prideful person, especially in the area of asking for help or opening up about some of my struggles.

Since we have been back from Michigan, we have moved twice, had our second child, and Jordan has had a complete career change. We have loved being back around familiarity (family, church, friends, Chick-fil-A...you know, the basics) but along with the good there has also been the hard. Emotional/hormonal adjustments and challenges (gotta love being a female!) for me as I recover from having a baby and being a mom to two young children. Being a one car family and being home a looooot (which is not easy for an extrovert, lemme tell ya). Money being tight. Realizing that not all friendships are the same as they were before we moved- people change.

In the midst of these challenges, I have found myself really having a hard time asking for help and being honest about some of my struggles. I want to appear happy, easygoing, balanced, carefree, down to earth, stable, godly...the list goes on. When I find that I am not always these things (shocker, I know) I come to the place where I realize that I am not self-sufficient. I was never created to be and I don't know why I fool myself into thinking that it's possible. I need friendship, I need community. We all want to feel valued and affirmed and needed. Even more than that I need Jesus. I need His grace. Every single time I fall I am once again reminded that I need saving. Jesus tells us to cast our cares on Him. Why? Because He cares for you. He cares for me. As petty as some of my troubles might be, He tells me to throw them off my back and onto His. He has also given us a beautiful, wonderful gift: the Church. He made us to need each other. We are called to encourage, confront, exhort, comfort and love one another. We are missing out on some major blessing if we allow our pride to get in the way of asking for help, of opening up about how things are really going. I know I have. As the Lord slowly chips away at my pride He has shown me two things:

1. I am not alone. There is always someone else who has struggled with what you are struggling with. No matter how ugly, horrible or complicated it might be you are not the only one to have dealt with a particular sin in yourself or in another person. Find people, godly people, who can talk to you about it and pray for, encourage, and challenge you. Get over yourself and ask for help!

2. Get my eyes off of myself. Yes, the last several months have been some of the hardest of my life in many ways, but guess what? Life goes on. My struggles are not all that there is and every season is going to have pros and cons. I read back in my old journals and things that were just such a BIG DEAL are not even in my passing thoughts now. I didn't even remember some of the stuff that would consume my thoughts at one point in time. Also, I remember my mom wisely telling me in my teen years that if I was feeling discouraged or down that I needed to find someone to encourage. It's literally the last thing you want to do when you are wallowing in your own pity party, but it will change your perspective and give you joy like nothing else. There will always be hurting people around you...so why not extend the love and grace that you have been given by Jesus to someone else?

Life is hard. There are very high highs and very low lows. Are we being faithful through the trials? Are we dwelling on how we feel or what we know to be true? I think of one of my best friends who lost her 4-day-old baby girl a few months ago. It is one of the most tragic things I have ever had to see a close friend walk through. No words can adequately describe their pain as they grieve such a great loss. But you know what? God has been faithful. She has told me that there are days that they can barely put one foot in front of the other, but they keep reminding themselves of who God is. The pain is still there (and will always be there), but so will the love of God. Goodness and mercy will follow them all the days of her life. Their suffering has been such a testimony to everyone around them and they have used it to proclaim Jesus.

Is that what we are doing with our trials? I challenge all of us, myself included, to embrace where we are, give our cares to Him, and to seek out fellowship and encouragement from the Body of Christ. He has equipped us with everything we need to walk through this life and to remain faithful to the end.