Tag Archives: Hebrews

Help Wanted Near You

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Bible Passages

Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2 (CEB)

Those who are gracious to the poor lend to the Lord, and the Lord will fully repay them.

Proverbs 19:17 (CEB)

Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices.

Hebrews 13:16 (CEB)

Devotion

This ministry needs your help. I need your help. At this point, I am a one-person army. As much fun as it is, I can’t reach everyone who needs help. This is a worldwide ministry, after all. But, there are even needs in my own neighborhood I am having trouble fulfilling. Here are some of the people I visit in my small 55+ community. Of course, these are not their real names.

Mable lives alone. She is very frail. She has a lung condition that requires she give herself oxygen treatments every few hours. Like all of us, she has things she needs done around her house, including yardwork and mowing. I watched her walk from her kitchen to her living room, not very far at all, the other day. It took her more than a couple of minutes. There is no way she can do much for herself. Her son helps some, but he is not young and lives too far away to run over every time she needs help.

One neighbor, Sarah, moved in with another neighbor, Beverly, to take care of her as best she can. Beverly is also on oxygen, and I have never seen her without hoses in her nose. Sarah can’t drive anymore, so Beverly does the driving when they go shopping, run errands, or go to doctor appointments. Both ladies know this is not a very safe situation. Their primary need is for a driver, and help with grocery shopping and errands.

Violet is a shut-in, and needs someone to talk to, and to check in on her. She doesn’t leave her house. The only other person she sees is her caregiver, who came in on a Monday and found Violet had fallen on Saturday and badly injured herself. Worse, she was still where and how she fell, with nothing to eat or drink all weekend.

Theresa has scoliosis. Her house has some basic handyman needs. There is a soft spot in her floor at the entryway. She has a wiring problem she seems to think is minor, but needs to be fixed. There is an inside door that sticks, and when it does she has to walk all through the house to go the twenty feet from her kitchen to her living room.

I’m sure your neighborhood has a Beverly, a Mable, a Violet, a Sarah, or a Theresa. Look around. Do you have neighbors you have never seen, who are perhaps shut-ins? Would it hurt to just knock on the door occasionally to see if they are okay? Is there something you can do to help make their isolation a little less depressing and solitary? Even if they greet you gruffly and with suspicion, keep going by. One day, they will realize you are trying to be a friend. After all, it took time for them to build those barriers between them and their neighbors. It will take time to break them down.

Keep trying and keep praying. The rewards are well worth the effort! Join me, and we will conquer the world with love, one neighbor at at time.

Prayer Focus

Neighbors in need

Prayer

Lord, lead me to someone who needs my help. Show me how to reach out to them and connect with them. Let me be a blessing to them. Amen.

Final Thought

Join us!

But God …

Bible Passages

Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.

“Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.” – Hebrews 13:20-21 (NSRV)

Devotion

As a mature, responsible young adult, I tried very hard to handle my own affairs. Juggling schedules, finances, people, and family was too much. I always dropped one or two balls. My biggest problem, I found out, was me. I was not capable of stepping far enough back or climbing up high enough to see the big picture, but God is. He created the one true “big picture,” and created me to do my part in it.

By trying to do things on my own, I actually created more stress and chaos than if I had done what God was telling me to do. I forgot where to get strength and wisdom. I forgot a lot of things, but God never does. He has a plan, and created me to fit exactly where He needs me to be.

When I forget to listen to Him, He sends me a message. It might be in the form of a friend’s comment during a conversation. I might hear something on the radio or television. Usually, it it a small tug on my heart. Sometimes, He takes matters into His own hands and speaks to me directly.

Once, shortly after my husband died, I was so lost, confused, overwhelmed and stressed out, He actually said loudly, “Hush!” I got the message, and tried to quiet my mind enough for Him to get a word in edgewise. I’m not sure I succeeded completely, but God didn’t take any further corrective action, so I must have been partially successful, at least.

Other times, I feel like Jonah. I really don’t think I’m the right person for the job before me, and try to argue, in a piercing, whiny child voice, “But God, I can’t do that,” and run the other way. Fortunately, I haven’t been eaten by a whale, but I am sometimes swallowed by a giant swamp. I sink in the muck. I get tangled in the prickly briars. Moss gets in my hair. Bugs fly all around me. I think I’m done for, but God is always there to lift me out of the bog and set my feet on solid ground, once I quit running from His will and the task at hand.

Nope, there are no but’s about it. If I listen with my heart and obey that small, quiet voice within me, it all works out the way God intends and I can live a peaceful, happy life free from worry and stress. God knows what He’s doing, and He created me for a specific purpose. All I have to do is trust Him.

Prayer Focus

People struggling with God’s purpose for them.

Prayer

Almighty, All-Knowing, All-Seeing God, help me to listen with my heart to Your small, quiet voice. I know You will guide my travels through this life, and all I have to do is ask You for guidance. You prepared this path for me, and me alone. Let me be a vessel that carries Your love to my fellow human beings. Let me be a light to those seeking You. Let me be Your voice in the wilderness. Amen.

Final Thought

With God, there are no if’s, and’s or but’s.