Faith Filled Friday

Learning to say no is saying yes to you!

Hello and welcome to Faith Filled Fridays! 

Throughout much of my life I have been a very observant person. I see things that tend to hide from the eye, ear and even touch. This is surely a gift but also can be a curse as it is so overwhelming. Life thus far has been about trying to employ a balance. Sometimes I wish I didn't notice all these things, as it has made major complications for me. Because I am this way it often leaves me in a state of always trying to help others and this really lands me in difficult situations. Far too often I don't leave enough time for myself because I’m saying yes to others. 

 One tragedy in this is that friends/people can tend to start taking it for granted. When motivated out of the goodness of your heart and you see how people almost expect it from you, well it hurts. I am learning that I must surely leave room, time, caring, learning, loving for myself. Helping others was never meant to be a burden.  

 I believe God wants us to help others. When I help others I call it: "My Church." I actually feel closer to God when I am doing something for others. For me it's a way to worship, how I connect to God. It just feels good. While I’m helping others, I often think of passages of the Bible. Perhaps it's not a pew under the roof of an actual Church, but it is under the roof of God's love. What is helping me realize that I must learn to say no to others and yes to me is when those people I help become so unwoven that they can't even grasp that someone is helping them out of the goodness of their own heart. They second guess my love and help for them I struggle to not become bitter, and stop doing for others. It is so hard and difficult to pray constantly to God imploring Him for the strength to not harness and harvest anger...feed that bitterness. 

 I have come to believe that God's plan for me and you is to help others. I just need to do it in a more sensible manner and leave myself something at the end of the day. A balance must simply be found in everything... without it we will always be in a flux of constant stress. There is a time to roll up the sleeves and a time to roll them back down.

May we rise to a new day and a fresh emotion of feeling loved from above.

Much love & God bless...

John