Often, I try to do things on my own. I guess it is something engrained in me that I need to be in control, and if I am unable to do something, then I’m a failure and should just quit, which leads to me becoming depressed and useless when the Lord wants to use me. When I get a project assigned to me, I used to believe that it was up to me, and me alone to see it to completion. Which made me feel even worse when I couldn’t do what I was asked.
It was last month, when I was becoming overwhelmed with everything involved with the Veil of Tears store that I was close to calling it quits. When I heard a message in prayer meeting about working together, and how we are the Body of Christ and aren’t alone. Some thing clicked in my brain and heart and I realized: I’m not in it alone! We are in a battle as believers, each with our different trials to work through. If we don’t rely on the Lord as our strength and allow others to help out when they can, the enemy will find a foothold and make you feel alone and eventually take you out of the battle. Together, we can stand strong as one Body in Christ.
This doesn’t mean that there will not be times of stress and hardship, but when those times come, I don’t have to f ace them alone. I can ask someone to pray for me, or I can delegate part of the task to those who are willing to help out, or I can stop what I’m doing and refocus my heart on the Lord because it is His work I’m doing anyways. When I take the focus off of myself, it is so much easier to relax and rely on the Lord to get the task done in His timing.
Serving at Gospel for Asia, I have learned many things about the Body of Christ that I never really noticed before. We are a family. We are not alone. We are one Body in Christ. We share the same Spirit. We are constantly looking for ways to love and serve others, to place them above ourselves. When one member is hurting, the rest hurt along with them. Reading through Ephesians is encouraging when I need to remind myself that we are in a battle, and that the Lord doesn’t leave us defenseless.
A neat scripture reference I happened upon recently calmed my heart, so I thought it would be nice to share it with you as well:
“Stand up and bless the LORD your God forever and ever! Blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the LORD; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas an all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.”
– Nehemiah 9:6
God created EVERYTHING and He PRESERVES it all. Why would I worry, why would I stress out when God has everything under control?
Source: Together as the Body of Christ
