Happy Friday, Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! I am genuinely looking forward to living this day – a day we will never see again! It is full of hope, opportunity, and promise! It is full of potential! I plan to empty this day of all it has to offer and to create a masterpiece…I hope you do the same! 😊
Have you ever had the experience where you learn or hear something, and it almost immediately comes flying back at you in real life? I had that experience earlier this week…
I joke with my family that I go to church every day! Earlier this week I was listening to a Life.Church with Craig Groeschel message. It originally aired on May 15, 2016 and it is titled How to Neighbor, Part 3: Empowering The Poor. It is a powerful message and I want to strongly encourage you all to go listen to it.
I am a huge note taker! I was taking notes on this
message and there was a section where Pastor Groeschel said, “We are ALL
(emphasis is mine) called to empower the poor.” He then asked, “How do we live
this out?” and offered 3 points. Here are my notes from this section:
Reach out, we never reach down.
We reach out because we care, we don’t reach down
because we think we are better.
The world is divided into those who need help and those who offer help…we are both!!!
That last sentence, when I wrote it, struck me as profound. I am to help others when and where I can – God give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to care…that is from Pastor Groeschel also! 😊 – and I will need help at times. Earlier this week, I needed help…
I had a situation at work. Now please hear me, nobody was going to die or anything of that severity however the issue was a big deal to me. I was on the phone with a colleague, talking through the situation, and I expressed my anxiety over the situation. This colleague and friend is one I have walked many difficult roads with…sometimes being the one offering help and sometimes being the one receiving it.
As soon as I expressed my concern she said something like, “O.K., let’s get to the root of this. Are we going to walk by faith or not?” It was like a bolt of lightning to me! I immediately knew she was right. I accepted the word she spoke to me and I made a choice…to walk by faith. I said a prayer and then determined what the right thing to do was in this situation. I then professed another message I have heard from Pastor Groeschel – “I believe God can. I believe God will. Regardless of whether He does or not, my faith is in Him.” I then acted on what the right thing to do was for this situation.
The situation did end well. As soon as it was over I, 1) thanked God for the wisdom, discernment, strength, and courage He gave me – I needed every one! And 2) I called my friend, thanked her, told her how powerfully her words had impacted me, and then I let her know the favorable outcome. I then called one of my sons and told him about a friend that had given me a wise word when I needed it and I testified how I had chosen to walk out my faith in God. And when I got home, I told my Beautiful Bride the same! It was a blessed day and I recognized and felt it immediately.
As I sit back and reflect on this day – which started with a message that struck me as profound at 5:00 a.m. and ended with a heart of great gratitude, having actually walked out the lesson I learned, at 5:00 p.m., there are a couple of key take-aways I want to share.
The first really goes back to the “Eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to care.” You see, when I expressed my anxiety, my friend could have just blown that off and gone on to the other things that were important to her. But that is not what she did. She not only listened but she cared. She cared enough to remind me that we are people of faith and that we must walk out that faith…Please think about this one; we don’t need faith in the peaceful, serene days/moments of life. We need it during the challenges and struggles that we all face. I sincerely hope and pray that every one of you will have a friend that has eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to care when you are in your moment of need. And I hope we will all be one! And going back to the issue; as I stated, it wasn’t a matter of life or death however it was important to me and for my friend, for a real friend, that is enough. So thankful! So grateful! So Blessed! 😊
The second point is when we are in the position where we need help…
This was interesting to me; Pastor Groeschel cited research, I believe it was from Harvard, that looked to define poverty. He went on to explain that the researchers had found that most Americans who do not live in poverty define it as the absence of something material. The same study asked people around the world who are actually living in poverty – I can’t remember the exact number, but it was in the 10’s of thousands – how they would define poverty and they said, “it is a mindset,” “a deep sense of shame, ongoing feeling of worthlessness” and they used words like “fear,” “shame,” and “hopelessness.” And then he said this, “We don’t just give what they need, we help change the mindset.”
So, what did my friend do? She listened, we talked through the issue, and then she changed my mindset. Here is the thing; I had to choose to receive the word she spoke into my life, and then I had to choose to actually walk it out in faith. If she says nothing, nothing happens. If she says something and I don’t do anything, nothing happens. It is only when she says something – meeting my immediate need (talking through the issue and caring) and changing my mindset (are we going to walk out our faith or not?) – and my receiving her words and walking by faith – Believing God can. Believing God will. Regardless, putting my faith in God – that everything changes!
Two points to end this Happy Friday:
I sincerely hope and pray you have at least one
friend like mine – if you do, you are blessed beyond measure!
Let us never forget; The world is divided into those who need help and those who offer help…we are both! May we always have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to care, and may we always have the faith to believe God can, God will, and even if He doesn’t, we will still place our faith in Him. 😊
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! 😊
Kev
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