In the past 2 weeks I have had 3 friends that are closer than sisters deal with heartbreaking situations in their lives. For possibly the first time in my life my words have gone beyond, "I am so sorry this is happening to you." to actually feeling like my heart is being ripped out. I mean that in no dramatic way. Friday was an especially cruel day for one of my dearest friends. And when I got home the tears flowed freely for her and her family. It got me thinking about the verse above. But what does this look like in our lives? What does it mean to truly share each other's burden? One beautiful idea came to mind and ever since I read this concept I have not been able to shake it from my mind. The concept came from the author of the blog "Bring the Rain." When her infant nephew passed away suddenly due to SIDS she asked her readers to pray for her brother and sister in law. But then she asked us to go one step further. She asked us to pray that God would take some of the burden away from them so that we could shoulder it for them for just a little while. What an amazing concept. I have never thought about that before. The fact that we could ask for a portion of someone's burden so that maybe their mind could be at peace for a moment or even minutes. Or maybe they could get a peaceful night of sleep. The beautiful thing is, I know that God can make this happen. When Jared's Dad died I wanted to take his sadness away. I wanted to bear his whole burden. Now I know that not only is this impossible but it is just not natural.He needed to feel all of those feelings. Just as my 3 friends need to feel everything they are feeling. God won't let us have all of it as we sometimes wish we could but I believe that we are allowed to have part of it for a period of time. So the next time you are grieving for someone close to you I challenge you to go beyond the limits of "I'm sorry." and go deeper. Ask God to bear some of the burden with them.
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3 comments:
Betsy, I understand exactly what you are saying and there are times when I feel someone else has taken on some of my grief. I truly believe you can "feel" it when others are praying for you. It is like a certain peace that comes over you, like a feeling of love. I am sorry for your friends problems and even tho I do not know them or the problems, I can ask God to show them some peace in their soul. I love you Betsy., Maw
Betsbo, you never cease to amaze me. You are really a great model to look after. I really miss working next to you and taking our walks, as I was able to learn a lot from being around you. I'm so happy that you and Jared have baby #2 on the way!
Betsy, Thanks for your insight. You truely do inspire me to be a better person and to look beyond myself.
Thank you,
love,
kittie
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