Are you Shrinking Back Or Rising Up?
“When the call comes, will you shrink back in fear, or rise up in love?”
Too often, fear, and dare I even say, self-involvement, holds us back from doing what we were inherently born to do: serve and love one another. A few year back, I had a life experience that will remain with me forever.
I answered my phone with delight upon seeing my friend’s name on the screen!
“Hi my friend!” I screeched with glee, “how wonderful to hear from you.”
“Julsie,” she whispered in her not-so-usual tone: “I need your help, but you can say no if you feel it’s too much. I will understand. It’s quite urgent. A family who we don’t know from a different part of the country was driving through our area and was involved in an accident. The child is on life support and the family are asking for people to come to the hospital and pray for their child seeing as they don’t know a soul here. His condition is critical and we need to do it now. I can’t get hold of our usual prayer team and so I thought I would ask you. Can you come?” …………….
Silence……. (that wasn’t the catch-up conversation I had been envisaging) ……….
“Ummmmmm……….shew…………….” I said hesitantly, my heart racing at a thousand beats per minute. A child on life support. As a sleep deprived mother with two little kids of my own, I just didn’t think I had the strength to do it.
Silence again for what felt like a life time as my head whirled.
“Friend, “I eventually responded, “I am so sorry, I just don’t think I can. I think it will break me.”
“No problem,” she replied, “I totally understand, I have to go and see if I can find anyone else otherwise I will go alone. Love you and I will call you later for a catch up……oh and let me know if you have a change of heart. I am leaving in 10 minutes.”
I put the phone down. My heart was pounding. Did that just happen?
Listen to the Prompting From God
I glanced up to the heaven’s and whispered, “Lord, help me do the right thing?”
And almost immediately I felt God whisper back: “Julia, my precious child, this is not about YOU. Fear does not come from God. I need you in this world to do My work. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few…….”
(Silence)……………….
I picked up the phone again and dialed my friend: “I will see you there in 10 minutes…..”
Don’t Allow Fear To Hold You Back
I have never forgotten those words. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matthew 9:37).” We are often given the opportunity to serve and to love one another, but fear and sometimes self-involvement holds us back. Too many times we default to thinking about OUR needs and OUR plans for the day and the call for our help is just simply, at that moment, highly inconvenient and maybe even too far from our comfort zone. So we ignore it and carry on.
The world is a broken place. The News bombards us with negativity and reminds us of this. Every. Single. Moment. Of Every Single Day. No wonder we often feel totally overwhelmed. If the world is in such a bad state what’s the point in even trying to make difference as it will just be a drop of good in the vast polluted, ocean doomed to darkness. So we give up before we have even tried.
We Are Called To Do Small Things With Great Love
But that’s not the full story. We need to remember that as much as the world has some serious challenges to overcome, it is also filled with incredible, every-day people who have a massive love for one another. The opposite of love is not hate: it’s fear. Each of us CAN make difference. We are not called to do great things: we are called to do small things with great love. So next time the call comes, and trust me, it will come (often when you least expect it), will you step out of our comfort zone and shrink back in fear, or rise up in love?
When The Call Comes, What Will You Do?
To cut a long story short, God came through for that little person. He performed a miracle. I didn’t witness the child waking up later that afternoon but the next day when I went to visit, he had been moved out of ICU and into the pediatric ward. The nurses called it a miracle. When I arrived at the pediatric ward the pediatrician was with the family telling them that the brain scans showed no signs of brain damage. Not a thing. We were a team of messy tears and celebration of God’s greatness.
Indeed, the harvest truly is plentiful but the workers are few. Next time you are prompted by the holy spirit, do me a favour and just show up.
