By PeggySue Wells:
How can I help?
Members of Christ the King Catholic Church in San Diego were dismayed when vandals marred their statue of Jesus. Now the garden statue’s arms end at the sleeves: the outstretched hands of Jesus broken off. Instead of repairing the hands, the church placed a plaque at the base of the statue with the message:
I have no hands but yours.
How can we be Jesus’ hands to our friends and neighbors who are experiencing crisis in their lives?
Our desire to help is sincere but we sometimes do not know how. “How can I help?” is often a fruitless question to ask them directly. In the pit of emotional or physical pain, people do not have the energy to tell us what would help them. True help comes from feeling someone’s pain, seeing a need, and acting on that insight.
Helping is the ministry of enCOURAGEment, to give someone courage in their darkest hour. To come alongside and bear our friends’ heartaches with them. To support, make more bearable, relieve, benefit, and change for the better.
People are often most helped when one person takes the time to give them a hug from God – one single, often invisible act that provides an anchor in the stormy waters of despair. A loving deed performed by someone who cares for us is the hands of Jesus to a hurting heart.
Lord Christ,
You have no body on earth but ours,
No hands but ours,
No feet but ours.Ours are the eyes through which your compassion
Must look out on the world.Ours are the feet by which you may still
Go about doing good.Ours are the hands with which
You bless people now.Bless our minds and bodies,
That we may be a blessing to others.
Amen- St. Theresa of Avila
Here’s a video from YouTube you may enjoy, with a song called 800 pound Jesus written by Paul Thorn. Watch for scenes with the angel and the little girl!
©PeggySue Wells. Peggy is a prolific article writer, speaker, and author of a dozen published books, including What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Say To Your Own Family (AMG). Visit her website at www.PeggySueWells.com
I am still in my teens and have found finding god difficult. I have found comfort in the scientific reasoning of life, as I lost faith due to a lot of my family falling ill and the death of my grandmother. Can you help me find guidance? I also know that I have sinned, and I’m worried that my sins do not allow me to be forgiven. I would also like to go to church, as I feel an overwhelming awe in faith.
Thanks,
Hello Jade,
Thank you for responding. I am sorry about the illness your family has experienced and the keen loss you feel for your Grandmother. She must have been a wonderful lady who had a special influence in your life. My family has been wounded by divorce – people leaving for different reasons than death. It left me feeling abandoned and unworthy of love and relationship.
God does reveal himself in his creation. Psalm 19:1-3 says, “The heavens declare his glory, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” The Bible told us long before Christopher Columbus that the earth was round, that the ocean had currents, and Job 31 is a scientific look at the animal kingdom. Many have found God through science such as today’s Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis ministry), Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, and Sir Isaac Newton.
While you are seeking God, He desires to have a relationship with you. He even took the first step. While we were yet sinners, God sent His son, Jesus Christ to be among us and teach us about our Heavenly Father. The New Testament is that story along with the words of Jesus to us. Then Jesus Christ went to the cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. It’s like if I committed a crime and a judge declared me guilty in a court of law and issued a giant, unpayable fine. Then Jesus would speak up and say he already paid it for me. His death on the cross covered all your sins. Every one.
God is so eager to be close to you that he did all the work – first by loving us so much that he covered the sin that keeps us apart through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross – and then by a simple invitation to secure our eternity with him. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead YOU WILL BE SAVED,” Romans 10:9. It is that easy. Remember the thief on the cross next to Jesus? Crucified on a cross, he believed Jesus and Christ promised that he would that day be in paradise with the Lord.
I encourage you to three life-changing steps. 1) Read a chapter of the Bible each day. It will take seven minutes. If you want to read a story as good as any block-buster film, begin with Esther. Then Ruth. Matthew is the story of Jesus.
2) Pray. Daily and anytime. All the time. Prayer is merely talking to God. Tell him everything. He can handle all your emotions – the good and the angry. Your fears and secrets too, since he knows them anyhow. And then listen.
3) Do attend a Bible-believing church. We thrive in community. We need God and we need each other. Because you are smart and have an interest in science, I encourage you to find a Bible Study Fellowship in your area. You can find it online. This is a meaty study of the Bible that is satisfying for folks like you and me. You will connect with people and be able to ask all those questions you have.
Jade, I am excited to see what God has for you. You have unique talents and creative abilities for something significant. I am praying for you:
“Father God, thank you for Jade, for the amazing person she is. She desires to know you. Encourage her faith, and guide her life. Speak to her, comfort her, care for her and her family, and sing over her. Guide her into her full potential in You. Thank you for your great love, the gift of grace, and forgiveness. In Jesus name, Amen.”
This has helped a massive amount. I cannot thank you enough for helping me get closer to God, and start to make sense of the world we live in. I have taken further research from the listed scientists above and have realised that it is possible to believe in science, whilst still believing in faith. I have felt an awe of amazement, in fact cried , after reading the reply.
I will start to read the bible, as even through the short passages you gave, I felt that this could guide me through life and also help to fit those missing pieces still left a little loose.
Thank you for replying, I have taken into consideration what you have said and I feel that this is a step in the right direction for me. Thankyou!!!
God, thank you for helping me to see, when everywhere else seemed dark. Please help others to see, like you helped me, when their path is also blinded. Amen.