My friends teach me many things. How I love these friends whose influences shape me to be more like Christ!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. This post was actually going to be a quick one because I need to bake two cheesecakes and get a check in the mail. Not to mention cleaning the house and even the basement – if I get really bored. Problem is, I can’t seem to find time to get bored . . . so I am learning to live with a dirty basement.
I am even struggling to find time to write anything on the blog these days. Not that there is not all kinds of subjects going on in my head and heart, but let me tell you about my friend and maybe it will help you understand why some things get second place.
I used to be the lady who stressed about her house, her schedule, her life. I did good things and cared about the people I did them for – but I mostly did them because it was a good thing to do. We grow up knowing Christians should do good.
But I wasn’t willing to look past the outside of the lost and lonely. I wasn’t brave enough to embrace the grief and pain that grip their souls.
Then I observed my dear friend. She did not stress about her house, her schedule, or her life much. But she took the time to listen to the hearts of people around her. She did not try to live up to “Mennonite expectations” – but loved people.
Around this time, I found myself holding a sobbing woman who did not know my Jesus. The depth of pain in her heart astounded me. She had been rejected and it seemed as if I was literally watching her heart break in pieces before my eyes.. It left me a different person.
I began to see the hurt everywhere I went. These people in my life were not just people to do good things for. They had suffered abuse, loss, and more pain than I knew the human heart could hold. These people needed my Jesus. But it seemed as if the devil would not let them go.
So that is why you will sometimes find big gaps of nothing on this blog. I am busy listening to the heartbreak of a mama losing a baby. I am busy crying with a friend who is walking through a deep valley. I am busy hugging the ones who know my heart best. I am busy pounding the gates of Heaven for my friend who has suffered disappointment and rejection.
Then there are people in my life who need a drop of love – one at a time – to soften their hearts. You’d be surprised how much one drop of God’s love through you can do for a heart that’s been dealt more pain than you can imagine.
Don’t waste years like I did and not go deeper than the outside of the ones around you. Be braver than I was and be willing to walk through the mud with them. Hold their hands as you navigate that deep, dark valley together. Pray for them until the Spirit speaks into their hearts. Wrap your arms around them and actually feel the pain that rips their heart in pieces.
You know the Healer, so be willing to carry the sick and wounded to Him.
They need a friend who knows the way out of their grief, who knows that there is hope, who can tell them there is an end to the valley. They need our Jesus. But first they need you to show Him to them.
You can be busy doing things tomorrow.
Today, take the time to listen to someone’s heart.
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Patricia Wiens says
This article “too busy” is so good! Spoke to my heart. Yes my basement is not that clean right now, but people is more important! God bless you!
Kendra says
Thank you, Patricia!