Life is Tough, But God is Faithful by Sheila Walsh

Author:Sheila Walsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2010-09-10T00:00:00+00:00

9

A CIRCLE OF FRIENDS

When we feel weak and overcome, we can wallow in self-pity, or we can choose to reach out and help one another.

Back in the fall of 1990 I sat anxiously by the phone, waiting for news from my friend. The ring shook the air and sent me jumping out of my chair. I picked up the receiver.

“How did it go?” I asked.

One of my best friends had recently joined Alcoholics Anonymous after struggling for a long time on his own and getting nowhere. I was glad he was finally getting some help. But I was nervous. Would they understand him? Would he feel accepted?

“Sheila,” he answered, “for the first time in my life, I realize what the church could be.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I stood up, told them my name, told them I had a problem, and they understood and accepted me. The room was filled with people who knew they couldn’t make it on their own. We needed each other.”

I was happy my friend had begun the long journey home. But I was also intrigued by his comments. God’s Word teaches us that when we are weak, then we are strong. So we should be most free to admit our needs in church. But instead, so often we feel obliged to grin like Cheshire cats so we will be “good witnesses.”

Turning Point: When we feel weak and overcome, we can wallow in self-pity, or we can choose to reach out and help one another.

The world is not looking for Stepford-type Christians. People are tired of pretense. We struggle with failures; we long for intimacy. So why are we feigning perfection before God and one another?

Perhaps it is because we misread passages like James 5:16: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (NKJV). We think righteous man means “superhero.” So we search for the ultra religious person who can save the day—or attempt to be that person ourselves.

When we do this, we miss the truth that confessing our trespasses and praying for one another makes us the righteous men and women who can bring about healing from God. We become righteous by admitting our weaknesses to one another, and we gain healing and strength through others’ prayers. When we try to become superheroes, we become more deeply entrenched in our failures rather than find healing.

HIDING OUR PAIN AND LONELINESS

In 1990, when I was cohosting the 700 Club, I was surprised by an onslaught of letters from believing women who claimed their husbands abused them:

“Sheila, my husband is an elder in our church, but he

beats me. Please help me.”

“I know that I have to submit to my husband, but he

makes me feel so worthless. What can I do?”

“My husband is so determined to control me. I feel as if I

am disappearing. I feel alone.”

I had just rejected material for a program on men who abuse women, thinking the topic irrelevant for our audience.

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