It’s easy to help others when everything is going great in life. The real challenge comes when everything is going wrong in life.
I remember leading a bible study several years ago. I loved everything about it. Until the day I received news from my employer that they could no longer afford my position. They let me go that very day. I went into panic mode. How was I going to eat and pay my bills?
I had never been through something like that before. Guess what I did? I went into isolation and even withdrew from the bible study I was leading. I drove myself insane, sending out 30 job applications a day and spent hours a day complaining to God about my problems. This went on for months. I had a hard time finding a job because, for seven years, I was in the porn industry and hardly had any work experience.
Plus, I think God wanted to teach me a valuable lesson. “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” – Proverbs 11:25 NIV
During my time of trials, I quit encouraging people because I didn’t think I had it in me to do so. How could the discouraged encourage the discouraged? Boy was I wrong. I had a friend reach out to me and tell me that I needed to get out of my funk and that this would only happen if I looked for someone else to help.
I grudgingly took her advice. I started to call some of the women from my bible study and began encouraging them. As I removed my eyes from myself, I suddenly felt uplifted. When we have problems, we tend to think we are the only ones going through them. We focus so much on the issues that we magnify them.
Do you know how to take the magnifying glass off of your problems? Focus on helping someone else.
As I refreshed others, God refreshed me. A week later, I received a call from a girl I called to encourage, and she said an old client of hers was looking for an assistant. I applied for the position and got hired on the spot! Friend, when you bless others, God will bless you!
What are you going through today? Is it an addiction or lust? Are you struggling in your marriage? I want to encourage you to remove that magnifying glass off of your problems.
Where your focus goes the power flows, could it be that you’ve been so focused on your struggles that you’ve given power to them?
God is going to get you through whatever it is that you’re going through. But will you help someone else get through what they are going through? It feels good to make others feel good. Today, look for someone to refresh and watch how God will refresh you.