Being Honest
by adustyframe ~ January 1st, 2008So many times during this trial, I’ve had reason to cry.
I do not like crying in front of anyone. It is my least favorite thing to do. Often I will be very careful what I say because it makes me cry to share some things that cause us pain.
In the ladies Bible study group, I used to pray first. I usually cried through prayer time, because people prayed for us. If I didn’t pray first, I wouldn’t be able to pray out loud when it was my turn.
So my pride has taken a beating–that’s a good thing! Still I truly do not care to cry in public.
I mentioned in this post, that sharing my news with Pastor on Sunday made me cry.
When I went to sit down for the service, James friend was sitting with us. His mom came over to make sure it was alright, and looked at me.
I was biting my lip, but my eyes were full of tears.
“Are you alright?” she asked. I shook my head no.
The impulse was to say “Yes, I’m fine.” That would have been slightly crazy. To say I’m fine when tears are filling my eyes wouldn’t be honest.
She smiled at me and I composed myself.
Sunday night, she brought a paper to me. She said, “I was praying for you today and I wanted to give this to you.”
It was a devotional on the Name Immanuel. It was a reminder that God is with us. She had written on it, “Praying for you.”
I thought later about this. By being honest with her, I gave her a chance to minister to me.
I was encouraged by her thoughtfulness, and the time she took to encourage me in the Lord.
I wonder how many times we could have been ministered to if only we had been honest about our need?
January 1st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
yes
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 am
You hit the proverbial nail on the head, Lizzie. Thank you for sharing this. Hope you don’t mind if I link back to your post on my blog… -Tara
Thank you, Tara. I don’t mind if you share it;) Thanks for letting me know.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:27 am
[...] I love her post titled Being Honest that she posted yesterday. How many times do we hide what we are going through to the point of [...]
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:38 am
Here’s the link to the post…
Link to post -Tara
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
So many times we want to be the one helping others, to be the strong ones. But if there wasn’t someone who was weak at any given moment, there could never be anyone who was strong. We can’t be all one thing all the time, and by being one or the other, we allow others to the ying to our yang (the chocolate to our milk, so to speak). And if we aren’t willing to be weak sometimes, we aren’t willing to allow God to allow someone else to be strong.
I know this so well because I’m really bad at being the weak girl.
Thanks, Chel. And lol about your being bad at being weak–me too.
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:49 am
So true! I found that out myself this week too! When we’re just honest with one another, though it seems we do have to be discerning about who we let our tender hearts be open to, when God does bring that person into our lives and the tears spill over or the confession we can begin being healed and ministered to by God’s Spirit working in another.
I’m so blessed by your faith Lizzie! Thank you!
~Sheila~
January 4th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I can so relate. I try not to cry in front of anyone, even my husband. He always calls me macho and tells me it’s okay for girls to be emotional.
I think you are absolutely right that we miss out on blessings and deny others the chance to be a blessing when we fail to be honest and let others know we do have a need.
Glad I’m not the only one that hates crying in public!
January 6th, 2008 at 10:46 am
YES! It is hard to be vulnerable and honest with others but oh so important – for both getting the encouragement and prayer we need and also for allowing others to give. I’m oh so slowly learning this (I had a nervous breakdown nearly 2 years ago).
P.S. How do I get to your homepage from an individual post? I read in a reader and click through when I want to read a whole post but then can’t figure out how to navigate to the home page to read other posts you’ve written.
Hi, all the way up on the blog header in the right corner is a Home link. I think that should work for you:)
December 10th, 2008 at 7:59 am
good job mate