The LORD is gracious and
compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. Psalm
145:8
Self-dependence
will keep a person from being compassionate to others. No one wants to be needy, and dependent
upon other people, yet I have found that it is only through neediness that we
learn to be compassionate to others in their times of trouble.
How many times
do we meet people who tell us, "I did everything by myself, no one helped
me. Everything you see here, I got by the sweat of my own brow."
It sounds good,
on the surface, yet I have found that the most giving and compassionate people
around are those who have come to the end of themselves, and have had to trust
God.
I truly believe
that the times I have had the roughest circumstances are those times where God
has taught me that my help truly comes from Him, and Him alone.
So if you are in
a rough, wilderness, place in your life right now, know that you will not stay
in that place forever and that your compassion for others is being forged in
the crucible of this hard place you are currently experiencing.
It's sad but
true that a lot of us know friends and family members that had a rough period
in their lives, and during that time they decided that God didn't help them.
They decided to turn against God, because they lost material things. They may
be back on their feet now, and yet they refuse to see the hand of God that
lifted them out of the miry clay of those circumstances and put their feet back
on solid ground.
If you know
someone like that, you need to know that until they learn the lessons God tried
to teach them through their circumstances, they are doomed to repeat them in
one way or another. Pray daily for them and ask God to be merciful in their
lives.
Looking back on
my early life of rebellion, there were many times God tried to open my eyes to
why my circumstances were rough and what He was trying to teach me. I am sorry
to tell you that I didn't "get" it, and so I repeated the bad times
over and over until the only thing I had left to do was totally surrender my
life to God. My circumstances got so bad; that I knew only a miracle could save
me. When I totally surrendered to God, and He knew that I meant it, He sent a
miracle to restore my life.
Right now, as I
write this, there are other souls that are still in the place of fear and
desperation. Be always ready and willing to stand with them in that place and
share your faith and courage, yes, even as many other shared with you in your
time of need!
Sometimes we get
ten years down the road from that hard place, and the pain of it starts to
diminish. We forget what it was like to have no food, no shelter and no hope. I
have found that God never lets us get too far from that place, without bringing
us back to reality in one way or another.
Recently I was
at the grocery store and standing off to the side waiting for my ride to pick
me up. An old lady happened to come up to me and start pouring her heart out.
Now in someone else's eyes I am an old lady. I have found that age is relative
and that "old" usually means someone twenty years older then we are.
So this older woman made eye contact with me and started a conversation.
I could sense
that she lived alone these days, but the counselor in me started to ask her
some probing questions to see if I was right in that conclusion. I found out
that she lived alone, but had other family members in town. I was happy to hear
that.
The interesting
thing was that she told me that this was the first time in her life she had not
had money. Oh, you hear people telling you that "the recession is
over" and for those still young enough, and in good health, and able to
work I suppose it is getting better. But for those on fixed incomes, groceries
are higher, gas for cars is higher and housing costs are higher and yet fixed
incomes are still the same.
I realized that
God put her in my path, because all these years she had been independent and
had depended on the money in her bank account to sustain her. She had no need
to come to know Jesus, and His compassion, because she didn't need it. So now,
to some she looked okay, but God showed me that she was "studying for the
finals" and He put her in my path for a reason.
I have noticed
that if we spend time with the Lord, that sweet savor that surrounds Him will
surround us. I said nothing about God, at first, and yet when she came out with
a curse word she said, "Excuse me for saying that." I have had others
tell me the same thing in the past. We don't see any difference in us, but
others do.
This town is
mainly full of two kinds of people, the really wealthy and the others who
struggle to make it. Those of us in the middle class are few and far between.
For years, she had been the first type
of person, and now for the first time in her life she was experiencing what it's
like to do without and God sent her not to one of the wealthy ones in the
store, but to me. God is so awesome, beloved; there is no such thing as
coincidences with Him.
I said all that
to say this; some of you reading this have gone through some really hard
circumstances in the past few years, and some of you are still going through
them. You may be feeling stronger now, but never forget the moments of total
dependence on God. That was a school, and some of you received your PhD's in
that school.
Now, God will
bring others before you, those who need the same kind of compassion you once
received yourselves when you "were there." God's purpose for bringing
us closer to Himself, through circumstances, is so that we can bring others
closer to Him.
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious unto you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.
© Cathie Miller 2012