It is always sad for me to start working with someone who is hurting, and not be able to see that person be successful in finding help. Any time an individual is working with people in Christian work, we must always know that God is in control. We need to remember that we can't do anything on our own.
People often ask me how I am able to listen to the heartbreaking stories. This is my reply: One day I was listening to someone who was hurting, and the Lord showed me something that has really helped me since then.
As I listen to what is being shared, I picture Jesus standing by us with a shovel in His hand. As the person talks, He digs a hole in the ground. I see myself placing it all in the hole that He has dug, so that it is buried forever. I don't need to be a great "spiritual" person that carries around the burdens. I leave it in the ground.
Many times, it's as if there is something inside that holds us back from letting go. It's almost as if we're afraid to try something new. For a young person, it may affect them in school and in many different relationships including the one with their parents.
As an adult, it will affect them in their job, in their marriage, and as a parent.
In many cases, the elderly feel they aren't fulfilled. They end up in a nursing home and their attitude becomes, "What's the use? No one cares anymore."
If you think this isn't so, just go visit a nursing home. Talk to some of those who are spending the rest of their lives in there. You will learn very fast, what their attitude is. They have such a vacuum in their lives, and they end up like a vegetable.
On the other hand, take an older person who has lived a life full of joy, happiness and has been loved. When they come to the end of their life, they know what it's like to have lived. In their lifetime, this person has made things happen. They started out and have faced many different trials. In spite of what they had to go through, they end up knowing what fulfillment in life is. We could learn much from them, if we would sit down and talk to them.
At the close of a day, how do you feel? Do you feel you have accomplished much, or do you look at your life and wonder why you can't be happy?
Do you hurt so bad at times that you feel you can't go on any longer? This is the time you need to find some answers, before you reach the point of taking the whole matter into your own hands. Many end up taking their own life, because they feel so empty and alone.
But no matter how old we are or what we are going through, it is never hopeless. In Jesus Christ there is hope, freedom, and fulfillment. We must simply come to Him.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Jeremiah 29:11
An excerpt from the book, What is the Role of a Woman, by the Reverend Dolly Holland
