Posted by Deke

September 21
Please pray right now. I've been nauseous and had intestinal issues all night.  Today I have 6 hours of therapy starting at 7:45 and hardly know how I will lift my head off the pillow.
Love, Boo

The following is an excerpt from a recent He Reads Truth devotional...

Years ago there was a woman who came to the church I served, and every Sunday, without fail, she would have a seizure in the middle of the service and have to be taken home. Before long, a sizable percentage of our congregation began to learn the signs that her seizure was coming on, and they took turns caring for her and driving her home.

One day she came to tell me she was thinking about leaving our church because she felt she was a burden on us. I told her she felt that way because she was, and that it was our holy honor to help carry her. It was one of the most tangible expressions of Christ-like love I saw come out of our congregation—people stepping into her world to help her be among us.

Bearing one another's burdens is often challenging from both ends; whether, bearing a burden or sharing a burden. Pride is usually the culprit. Interesting that more than once, God's word says that  He will resist the proud but gives grace to the humble. So, we are called to humble ourselves to help others and when needed allow others to help us. Such has been the case in Nashville this week.

Anyone who knows the Boo of Boojoyful knows that no one is more giving, selfless and willing to share others' burdens. However, this week she has needed some help and help has come in abundance through doctors, nurses, babysitters, prayer warriors, children, grandchildren, therapists, family, friends and even strangers. It has been a blessing beyond comprehension. Perhaps the greatest blessing of today was being ministered to by her daughter, Betty Ashton, as she played her harp throughout the 6th floor of the hospital. 

Interestingly, the cycle never quits as she, even in the humble state in which she finds herself, has had opportunity upon opportunity to share others' burdens. A nurse who has lost three children with a rare genetic disease, another nurse who lost her home in the Nashville floods several years ago, a young patient who woke up one morning with a sore foot, only to have half her leg amputated later that day, a young nurse who needed encouragement with her first pregnancy, a housekeeper, a doctor with two children, both diagnosed with potential life long illnesses... it just goes on.

With God, most things work contrary. You give to get. You must die to in order to live, You must be last in order to be first and you need to bear others' burdens in order to have others share yours.