Our friend, Lydia, is a nurse with five children who, as a child, had survived emotional and sexual abuse. Still, she worked long hours with much kindness, while raising her own four children. Then one day her husband developed a very serious heart condition. Lydia was overwhelmed. So, she turned to parish friends. They listened, babysat and prayed with her often, even daily, until two years later, when her husband died in surgery at the age of forty-two. More prayer and support was needed. Then after five more years, when Lydia had finally recovered, her teen-age son was murdered in a drug related incident. Lydia’s parish friends rose to the challenge again. They put into practice some of these suggestions for reaching out to someone experiencing life-altering needs, or difficult transitions.
- Choose ONE such person in your circle of family and friends to pray for every day. Speak to God in a way that is beyond your normal routine; standing, kneeling, speaking aloud or singing.
- Recall the ways Jesus reached out to someone in similar circumstances. Then picture Jesus beside this person.
- Choose one concrete way to offer regular, long-term support; a weekly phone call, a bi-weekly greeting card, or a small act of ongoing service that is meaningful to him or her.
- Realize your limits. It may take a whole small community to offer prayer-filled help together. Ask yourself if you are in a position to mobilize such a group.
- Whatever you do, respond with gentle compassion, or as Scripture puts it, “Do not break a bruised reed.” Matthew 12:20
By the grace of God and through her small faith sharing group, Lydia was able to seek out and forgive her son’s murderer. She also became a public advocate for abolishing the death penalty. One of her favorite prayers became, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion… who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4)