This
month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
During this month our fellowship
recognizes a very special group of people on Sunday, October 27th...our Cancer
Survivors. We continue our series on:
What can we learn from the journeys and
battles of those who have traveled this road?
1.
Crisis Creates
Confusion – A diagnosis can be a disturbing time.
2.
Caution Causes
Carefulness – Don’t get ahead of God!
- Commitment Calls for Courage – Facing the challenges and fears of life in
faith is courageous.
- Conquering May Not Mean
Cure – Being a conqueror is an
attitude, not a position.
- Compassionate
Caregivers Share the Burden
This is My commandment,
that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one
lay down his life for his friends. John
15:12-13
For a cancer patient or someone suffering from some other
form of illness it is the caregiver.
This is the person that is right beside them meeting whatever needs they
can.
Caregivers are:
- Cheerleaders
- Nurses
- Prayer Warriors
- Companions
- Burden Bearers
- Protectors
Love is the Force Behind the
Care
When we love, we are willing to sacrifice. Sometimes when a loved one needs our help, there
are those who push the pause button on their own lives. The other person’s needs become more
important than theirs for a little while.
They choose to focus on the one they love, taking care of them and
helping to fulfill their needs. We
don’t mind denying ourselves when we love deeply. It is that kind of love which compels us into
action through compassion.
Compassionate Caregiving – The
Action of Love
This loving compassion springs to action when a loved one is
hurting or sick. It move us from our
place of fear and shock to rise up and say “I’m here and I am with you. We’ll
go through this together.” Love must
act, it must do something. These are gifts
from God put in our lives when we need them the most.
You might not have a friend or a loved one suffering from
cancer or physical illness, but you find you are a support in other kinds of
crises. Maybe you minister to someone
suffering from depression, sickness of a child, break – up of a marriage,
financial crisis, or loss of a job.
These can be devastating to experience and the love and support of a
friend or family member can be the difference between holding it together and
losing it. Don’t discount your impact as
a messenger of God. “Messenger” is the
same word as “angel” in the Bible. You
are where you are for a reason.
Look around you today and consider the people God has placed
in your life. Maybe you are the one in
need. If so, open yourself to the love
and support God has placed around you in loving friends and family. He knows what and who you need. He provides.
Take a look at the needs of your friends and family. Think about what they are going through? How can you bless them? How can you ease the burden? God will use us as caregivers. As such, we become an extension of the hand
of God reaching out to touch the lives of those we love who are suffering.
Scripture to
Claim:
(Love)...bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7
