Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Matthew 16:24-25
“You can’t keep it unless you give it away…”
(Common paraphrase of the 12th Step of Alcoholics Anonymous)
I recently spoke with a client who has a host of significant health problems. In fact, some of these chronic conditions, taken together, are considered to be terminal. She struggles with some basic things like nutrition, breathing capacity, chronic recurrent infections, etc., yet she has decided to live. And not just to live, but to live in a missional way.
She and her husband have undertaken a personal mission to care for the homeless people in their community. Especially when the recent government shutdown put those homeless persons in peril, this woman decided that she could not let them suffer. She went to parks and places where homeless persons gathered, and she brought food, and blankets- and hope.
She shared with me through tears how God has changed the life of she and her husband. She gave testimony of how some of the people she cares for have ministered to her as well. Now, she has engaged her church family and at least one other church to mobilize efforts to help her mission.
This principle she is living is paradoxical to those who do not understand the mission that Jesus set before us. By giving herself away, despite her own incredible needs, she has given life and spirit to others. In so doing, she has found renewed life herself. She is not preoccupied with her own suffering, but meets the needs of others. In so doing, she has found healing of a different type.
This testimony reminds me of a story Phillip Yancey told in his book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. He told of a group of discouraged and displaced men right after World War II in France who aimlessly roamedthe countryside, scavenging a living. They were hopeless and angry at their fate. When a local priest challenged them to find others who were worse off than they, and to help those people, their lives too could change.
Those men decided to band together and help the children displaced by war. Eventually, their efforts led to an organization that endured for generations- one which had a mission to help children.
When we redeem our pain, we can turn it into gain for others. In so doing, we help ourselves.
Prayer: Lord, help us to redeem our pain into gain for others, Amen
Reflections of a Counselor 