When Sharing is Caring for Yourself

Sometimes we have asked, “Lord, what is my purpose for living?” or “What have I to look forward to?” Dark thoughts crossed our minds; of ending it all. The truth is there are infinite possibilities. Sometimes we need to be assisted to visualise new perspectives. There are many who have experienced rock bottom, who found a way to climb back to life; many who were helped; who would help us by listening and walking with us. God places these people in our path. Trust them. They don’t judge or have a view that must be asserted; they journey with us. And through them, God gives us hope for a good future, where life will have purpose and meaning.

The Truth We Hardly Know About Until We Discover It

We never realise how common to life the struggle of life is, until we recognise, having gone through a tumultuous struggle, that we had to reach out and seek the support of others, moving from beyond the isolated existence that defined us.

When we have been pushed too far in life, and God has our attention, because we can do life no longer in our own strength, then we recognise the blessing in the rock bottom experience.

And life can begin as if it had never begun before.

Having exhausted the old life, and having burned it at both ends so nothing was left over, having reached oblivion, new life can now commence.

We generally found this new life through the generous encouragement of another who had travelled a similar path before us. They knew what we were experiencing. There was no convincing them. They somehow knew what we needed.

A listening ear is just that. It adds no value apart from inducing the silent realm of the Spirit as it intercedes in prayer, holding the space, containing this person – and the entire moment – before them. There is no judgment. Just the opposite. There is no condemnation. Just the opposite. There is no advice. Just the opposite. But there may be some wondering together. Implicit safety. Implicit trust. It’s the climate for God’s healing Presence.

This listening ear is nothing about the ear itself; it’s all about the person speaking, and in this way the person speaking can experience something of God’s healing in the type of moment perhaps never previously experienced.

God’s healing Presence occurs serenely in this space between the listener and the person ailing. Space is the imperative. Space is what transcends humanity, inviting the Presence of God to intercede uninhibited.

Humanity can add nothing to God, but humanity is needed for the empathy God uses between two.

We have to strip ourselves of any human desire or ego in this healing moment. We must enter into words that could hardly be uttered; shameful words, guilty words, stuttering and stammering words, and words that make no sense at all.

Such moments within this healing space surpass human experience. These moments we know God is real, because there is more to the moment than we can possibly comprehend or even appreciate.

***

Healing begins with the courage to be honest with someone who’s experienced God’s healing.

© 2014 S. J. Wickham.