As a child, every time I asked my mom to give me something, she’d turn around and said:
“Gimme died in the battle of get-your-ownie.”
She did it with good intentions and was making sure that I didn’t become spoiled or lazy. However, I think it began a trend in my life of not reaching out to my community.
Emotionally, socially, and financially, I have always had a hard time letting people in and reaching out for help. I’m not the best at expressing my emotions or articulating how I feel. I love hanging out with people, creating memories, and growing relationships, but I feel guilty to ask people to make room in their schedules for me. And I’ve been going on mission trips since I was 13 and cringe every time I have to ask for donations. I feel that I’ve been conditioned to be self-sustaining and completely removed from needing anything from anyone.
That’s not how we were created to be though. That wasn’t God’s plan for his people, and that is in direct opposition to the origins of the Christian church. We were created for relationship and community. God made us so we could have a relationship with Him, and then the church in Acts formed as a support system for the Christian community.
“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” – Acts 2:44-47
I’ve fought my way out of a very hopeless situation, and God has been patient with me every step of the way. As my perfect creator, He showed me exactly what it means to depend on someone other than myself. He opened His arms to all the parts of my life that are lacking. He celebrates and blesses my life when I grow closer to who I’m meant to be. He exposes blind spots in my life that sin has rooted itself in and supported me as we work through it. He gave me relationship and community in it’s pure form, and that was the first step.
That wasn’t the last step, though. He has pushed me out to learn to lean on other people. I embraced the community at my church. I let people into my life. For once in my life, I have a best friend that is also an accountability partner. I have people that want to do things with me, and they support my growth. I still have a LOOONNGG way to go. The walls that have built up over my life are taking a while to come down. There are parts in my life that I still feel alone in. But I no longer actively cut people out when they get close. I know how important it is to have a community, and no matter how hard it is, I fight to keep people in my life.
I think this change is why I’m excited and at peace with preparing for the World Race (something that I dreaded before). I trust God and the people that He has brought in my life.
So I want to ask you to give me…
Give me 10 minutes. Give me a conversation. Give me the chance to bring you into my journey to the World Race. Yes, I will talk about my financial need. However, if I am going to go out into the world, leaving everything behind, I’m gonna need a team behind me. So I’d love to have a chat about how I decided to start this journey to the World Race and what I am about to face. So shoot me an email or send me a text. I’m choosing to lean on the community that has come into my life because two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up, but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
