We all love to be the person who comes alongside of the one needing help. We can lend an ear and listen, maybe provide an answer, solution, or encouragement. We can prepare a meal and bring it over. Send a surprise to be delivered. A simple phone call, hearing a friendly or compassionate voice on the other end can be the most needed gift of all. And sometimes it can be found in seeing the familiar handwriting of a dear friend on the envelop in our mailbox.

Any of these can bring such joy to our hearts to be able to offer help. But harder still is to be the one who needs to ask for help.

In a recent conversation, I heard it said that the person did not want to talk because the tears would start. The person needed a listening ear and yet did not want to appear in need of help.

There are times we need the support of one another. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines support as:

• to assist, to help
• to hold up.

But the definition I was recently drawn to was this one:

“to keep from fainting, yielding, or losing courage.”

Asking for support is not a sign of failure or weakness. It is a sign of recognizing we cannot do or get through on our own.

It brought to mind the story found in Scripture of the paralytic man. Unable to walk to get to Jesus, his four friends carried him. Unable to get him through the crowd to Jesus, the idea came to lower him down through the roof.

The story of the paralytic man is a familiar one. Let’s look at it together and see what we can learn about both giving and receiving help. Join me at Woman to Woman Ministries HERE .

Image by Natalia Lavrinenko from Pixabay