I am a great believer in Romans 8:28 - "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God" (KJV - I usually use the NIV, but some phrases from my childhood with the KJV just stick!). Time and again I have found that apparently unpleasant things that I have experienced have helped me at a later date, or have enabled me to be empathetic (or even positively useful) to other people.
I've had two excellent examples of this today. My brother has been awarded a benefit he was entitled to, and one of my friends has had her benefits and level of assistance reassessed, in her favour. Both of them came to me for advice and support, and, because of all the pitfalls and problems I have experienced while trying to get the correct benefits and level of help for my disability, I was able to be really helpful to them, and enable them to get the help they need.
I've also been asked to speak on my experience of Quaker Worship at the Quaker Quest my Meeting is running this October. I may be speaking via webcam, but it's possible I may be able to get there in person :)
It's wonderful to find I can still help other people, when so much of my life is about having to accept help from others!
Also, many but not all of my readers will be aware of the One&Other project currently taking place in London. The artist Anthony Gormley is organising 100 days of public participation in art, by randomly selecting applicants for one-hour stints, 24 hours a day, on an empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. Between 5 and 6pm BST on July 16, the occupier of the plinth will be
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2 comments:
Good for you. I'm convinced that we are often a help to people without seeing it. But once in a while it is nice to try to help someone and actually see some positive results. We should keep trying to help others even when we don't see any tangible results but God knows we get discouraged too. So God does sometimes let us see some of the fruit as well. At YM Louise Wilson told a story about how she visited a young man in prison every week for nearly a year. Many years later she got a note from another man who was an inmate who had eavesdropped on her convervation. In the note the man said that what he heard her say enabled him to turn his life around.
I'm glad that God encouraged you in this way.
Two Friends from England were at our YM sessions this year. It was very nice to visit with them and let them experience our ways.
I'm a great believer in that verse as well, even when we don't know the good at the time. It's hard to always be the one to accept help, I know a bit about that too, but glad you are encouraged. Even one life can touch another often in unimaginable ways and make all the different. I think you do that more than you realize. :)
Don't know why I have not done so before, but may I link your blog on mine?
Jan Lyn
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