Help! Love, MOM

And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood[s], and strengthened his hand in God. 1 Samuel 23:16 KJV (same scripture in the NIV)

The previous post, One is a Number, also explores the idea of the faithful importance of ministry to one.

Strength training is all about using resistance.

Dumbbells, bands, or your own body, should come to mind. With these we can challenge our muscles so they get stronger, denser, and more resilient.

When you push against weight, tiny tears form in muscle fibers; as your body repairs them, you come back tougher, leaner, and more powerful.

I don’t know much about strength training; the only exercise I have ever done consistently is running.

However, my research shows that, beyond shaping the physique, lifting:

• boosts metabolism,
• stabilizes joints,
• lowers injury risk,
• sharpens our brains, and
• fights the muscle and bone loss that comes with aging.

I also found out that when one lifts weight near the limit of one’s ability, a spotter is needed.

Now a spotter can assist in various ways, but the aspect that intrigues me the most is their ability to provide support, enabling the lifter to successfully complete the repetition.

I believe that David’s friend Jonathan was his spotter.

I believe that this is essentially what occurred when Jonathan “strengthened [David’s] hand in God” in the King James translation of the bible.

At a time in David’s life when it was hazardous to help him, Jonathan not only found David but also pointed his friend to God and His faithfulness.

The difficulties that David faced? It is likely that few of us will ever have that level of challenge. Nevertheless the LORD has a way of allowing the circumstances of our lives to bring us to the end of our physical, mental and spiritual strength, as well as our financial or social resources.

When and if this happens in your life, I pray that you have Jonathan or that you are a Jonathan to someone else.

Covid Memories

I’ve discovered to my shock that for a great many persons Covid is a distant, pleasant memory. These dear ones experienced a longish period of experimenting with banana bread recipes, making TikToks and earning degrees via ZOOM. The worst days were boring.

Others of us suffered. I was one of those.

My mom died right before Covid was declared a pandemic in the U. S. I am a school counselor and, during the pandemic, I often worked from about 8am until the early morning hours. Rarely would the day end before 2 am as my colleagues and I daily scrambled to catch up to kids who, having slept during the day, were mostly reachable only at night.

After finally signing off with the kids, church or estate related tasks awaited. The dawn introduced the dance again.

Then, toward the end of the pandemic, my Pastor died.

Book-ended by grief and depression, burnt out from the daily grind and paralyzed by the work yet to come, eg, I couldn’t clear out or sell my mom’s house due to travel restrictions; one terrifying Sunday it was my turn to preach.

I could barely think let alone preach a whole sermon.

Our church enjoyed warm, dynamic, compassionate interim leadership in our, what we call, Regional Supervisors, however, it never occured to me to ask them for assistance.

God Gives Friends Like This

On the other hand every Saturday, 2 other ministers and I met together to discuss the Sunday service, and to strategize how to handle church related issues or concerns.

We ALWAYS started our meeting with a prayer and with a check in. I was dishonest saying that I was fine when NO way was I anything close to ok.

But I felt the Holy Spirit instruct me to ask my friends to pray for me.

When I finally broke down — pure pride on my part — and obeyed the Spirit’s wooing, their prayer for me was chain breaking and refreshing. They “strengthened my hand” in God.

Admittedly,the LORD used more than 1 person to help me. Do not lose the main idea: ministry on a miniscule scale is powerful and mighty.

The ministers did not take away the weight or responsibility of preaching from me.

Rather, on Saturday night they “spotted” me.

They came near. They assisted me with the weight so that, on Sunday, by the grace of God, I could go forth.

The LORD, through their prayer scattered “clouds of sin and sadness and [drove] the dark away” from my heart and my mind.

Oh glorious and mighty ministry of one! I pray that you and I would look for some beleaguered Believer.

When you find that dear sister or brother, strengthen their hand in God.

Blessings,

Kimberly