In light of the day’s reading, pause to reflect on the specific areas you long to see made new and how Jesus’s ministry calls us to join in that restoration. Let these shape your prayers today.
Jesus meets the needs of those who are hungry, sick, imprisoned, and far from the community. Jesus equips His followers with the love and strength to care for one another. So we obey Him by looking at our lives as an overflow of Christ’s goodness to share with others. We do not withhold compassion from those who are struggling now, working toward the promised end when God clothes His people in beauty and splendor and provides everything we need.
After you’ve read, spend some time in prayer, asking God to show you any areas He has equipped you to love and care for your community today. Comment/share with the community anything that stood out to you or encouraged you from the reading or your time in prayer.
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, it is dead.
Recently, an extended family member, with whom I spent very little time in my younger years, and really am only connected with because of FB, sent a message saying she was broke and to keep this between us. She didn’t want her step daughters (all adults in their 50’s!) to know of her troubles. Too many bills and not enough cash to pay. She asked if I would pray, which I immediately said I would. We are not necessarily in a position to be offering financial assistance as we are approaching retirement soon. After today’s readings, I wonder. Am I called to do more than pray?
We have a family member in prison and today’s reading got me. The thought entered my mind about doing something for her because visiting her isn’t an option. The reading today is prompted me to put the plan into action.
MERCY + thank you for sharing your beautiful story. I’m so impressed with your journey of self learning and transformation. You bring so much care and empathy to our SRT community.
I go through periods where I give financially or I give my time. I need to do more of both! The need dearest to my heart is rescuing dogs and cats that have been abandoned or abused. I also volunteer at church in many ways and I’m seen as someone to go to for help. But my heart is truly for lost and broken animals. I continue to work at helping people , Christians and nonbelievers. I hope God sees my heart to serve and doesn’t hold it against me that my biggest joy is finding homes for mama’s of litters and puppies and kittens needing good homes. My pups bring me so much joy and I feel that God understands my little ministry. ❤️
I would like to ask for prayer for friends who recently lost their daughter to a bad infection. They have moved to another state, so I can’t stop by and express my condolences or take them a meal.
You SRT sisters are a blessing in my life! Praying for you all.
❤️
I try to help when I can but not always able to so I hope the lord sees that I try.
I have a background in psychology, and I am a compassionate and empathetic person. I believe God has equipped me to meet the emotional and mental needs of those around me. I pray that he would give me opportunities to do that. ❤️
❣️Thank you Friend!
So many of your stories have provoked me to share about my self-development when in Christ. In order to serve, I realized I needed to improve my communication skills. I love this phrase that Donna said, “live in their little world”. We need to enlarge our world, let go of the “dignity” to get our hands dirty. My husband is really good at talking to strangers and gets them to open up and share their struggles. It usually takes a while for someone to open up to me. I usually questioned why that is. He told me he found me intimidating lol, type A personality, and I am thinking to myself, dang, that gotta go. That strong type A impression gotta go. Sometimes we don’t perceive ourselves well, but the world is our mirror. And that really encourages me to improve how I approach people and how I need to carry myself. I have been tuning in to podcasts on how to listen actively, how to understand what the other person is really saying, to have empathy, to show interest by probing more questions, and digging deeper. I was a very shy person, quiet and reserved. Then I listened to a series of teachings on corporate communication for workplaces, especially how to communicate effectively to bring people together, how to bring gentle correction and not offence (there’s a book about that which I am gonna read). I was surprised to know from the podcast that the marketplace will always pay more for those with communication skills to bring people together, since that’s leadership skill. That was really eye opening. I saw improvement in myself that my colleagues came and opened up to me about underlying conflicts, workplace anxiety, and I found myself counselling them back to calmness, peace. It happened without me realizing it. I was so happy with this little progress. So yes, in order to help people and our community, I need to equip myself with better skill sets, and humility is the garment to put on. Even in the role of a wife, and a mother, learning to be humble (day in day out), choosing to be kind instead of being right, learning to build up a man, while seeing the inner boy with so many childhood wounds, wounds of abandonment, rejection, mental abuse, label of feeling less than, and not stepping on him, it’s a whole level of learning and soul searching. Then to keeping a house clean, efficiently organized, budgeting, balancing finances and future savings, is another skillset that I am learning to serve our family towards victory. So serving others has embarked me on this new journey of so many many other new learnings, most importantly to develop Christ-like character, to exit my little world. And to pray for you all, to learn about you all and your struggles, that has equipped me in immense ways. I have become more compassionate, and I am excited to stretch my world “beyond the pond” (as Tina usually says). I am so enriched with our unconventional relationships, finding myself thinking about you in random moments of my day, crying and sobbing over your pain, bringing your burden to God and proclaiming God’s words over you. Those are the precious and wonderful gifts that God has given me. To love is to serve with a genuine heart. And as much as I am willing to learn, the Lord is leading me to see there’s so much more to learn lol. I thank God for you who are my daily teachers through your beautiful reflections and transparency! I love you all so much. Be blessed my dear dear sisters.
Thank you for your message.