Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Are You Willing To Love Them Through It?



Your friend’s child wants to change their gender.

Another friend is grappling with the thought of suicide.

Your cousin is headed to prison.

Your niece has been in and out of a mental institution.

Most people say, “I’m sorry.” They say, “I will pray for you.” Then they disappear. Or maybe they are there in the beginning, but then grow weary and disappear after a time. After things get REALLY tough.

For a lot of us adults, we remember 9-11 when the twin towers were struck by planes. We know and we remember, how firefighters, police, and rescue workers ran INTO danger, instead of away from it. They ran in to help.

That’s what we need to do. We need to run IN to help.

Who will rescue someone who needs a friend in their moment of need, if everyone is running out of the building? Who will love them when they need to be loved the most? If no one is willing, no one will ever get healed. No one will ever get rescued. No one will ever feel like they are worthy enough to overcome what it is they are battling.

I have this instinct. It is to “love them through it.”  Maybe they don’t think they need me. Maybe their instinct is to push people away because they don’t want what they think they will get…. Pity. Judgment. Ridicule.

What this world needs more of, is love.

Our families, our friends; they need us to love them through their personal battles and struggles in life. That doesn’t mean we need to condone their choices. But we can certainly love them despite them. 

It’s the only way.

Some people don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. They don’t think anyone will be waiting for them on the other side of their challenges. They don’t think anyone can give them grace, or mercy, or forgiveness. They don’t value themselves enough to believe they can overcome, or even that they are cared enough for, to have someone believe in them.

I want to be that someone. Do you? Can you?

Can you love someone through it, instead of running away from something that may be ugly, embarrassing, or tough? Can you love someone enough to invest in helping them find a way to love themselves?

There are people in my life, in your life, who need you. They need not just your words, but your heart.

We are ALL capable of loving.  So love. LOVE! Love with abandon.


And watch lives transform.

7 comments:

Heather Hart said...

Amen! This is so true, we do need more love.

Dionna said...

Yes, all of us do, amen?

quietspirit said...

Dionna: We had a situation among out church family where a young man was in jail and eventually went to prison. His mother and his aunt and uncle were members of the church.
The mother has a disability and needed her sister's help. The sister and her husband took on the role of grandparents to the young man and his brother. I was able to write him as he spent time in jail. I was invited to his sentencing. In September of 2015, I had an accident and was in rehab for three months and then more or less housebound. I just started writing him again in November 2016. In the summer of 2015, that aunt and her husband moved from our town. The aunt then got sick in December of 2015 and she went to heaven last summer. She stood by her family no matter what.

deb palmer said...

Dionna
A lovely post. So, so true. Today's problems often can leave us feeling ill-equipped. Love the thought of "running in." Thank you.

Dionna said...

Thank you for your comments AQuietSpirit and Deb.

Cathy McIntosh said...

Lovely post and a great reminder to us all. It's easy to get so focused on our own objectives, our own problems and issues, that we neglect the love we're called to give to others.

Heather Hart said...

Hey Dionna, I wanted to let you know this post was featured in a round up post on my blog today. You can find it at: http://candidlychristian.com/define-love/