Accepting Help

Accepting Help

Part of me, the quiet stubborn part, wants to say "I can do it all"!

When my husband was first diagnosed with cancer, I made the rule that we had to accept help, although that is against our nature.  

I didn't realize how difficult it is at times for me to accept the generosity, sometimes overwhelmingly so, of others.  I don't want to burden anyone else.  And, a small part of me thinks "how could I ever pay them back?"   I know that is not their intention, but sometimes it emotionally hurts to have help.  This help is a reminder to me that that something is wrong. 

I know these helping people do not expect anything in return.  I know that love is the reason they help.  I hope they know we love them back.  I hope that I too can "pay it forward" in some way by serving and helping others. 

We have been blessed by others' help in so many ways already:  meals, united prayers, hugs, gift cards for gas and stuff, company in our home and waiting rooms, and texts, cards, phone calls, emails, conversations, and messages that are encouraging and comforting.  We have received massage therapy, anonymous gifts that fill a need, snow removal, guy movie and prayer night, Church Support, and people who drop everything to help us in the current moment.   Friendships, new and old, are deeper... and I value that as well.

God is using complete strangers to help too.  They may seem like little things, but to me they are not.  An offer of a tissue for my tears, conversation, a pat on the back, a hospital meal, a seat in a waiting room, a drink, a smile in an elevator, or a friendly greeting. 

There is more, as these are only a few examples, but I am so completely humbled, and I still sometimes shake my head in disbelief about the generosity of others.  Thank you so much for your love.  I hope you will pardon my tears, accept my gratitude and hugs, and know that I thank God that He is using you to help us.

Reflection Verses:

If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.  If it is giving, give generously.  If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.  And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. (Romans 12:8 NLT)

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10 NIV)