RolingerHome

Recently I received a letter from a dear sister and asked her permission to share it with you. I hope it encourages you to step out and minister to others no matter what your life situation.

"I really appreciated your recent posts on loneliness and on the new chapter in your life. They rang so loudly in my heart and I'm so thankful you wrote about those things. A few years ago, a friend and I were praying about what ministry the Lord would give us in our local assembly...we felt lonely as singles. We felt like misfits and it was easy to feel sorry for our life situation. But out of our prayers we recognized another group that felt lonely too...and that was the older ones...the ones with the gray hair, the failing health, the ones losing their spouses, etc. So we started to spend time getting to know them...taking a meal to them, having them over for a meal, taking them out for a meal...dropping bread off at their house, etc. Oh what a blessing it has been. I know they will tell you they are the ones being blessed but the truth of the matter is that we are the ones blessed by getting to know them. I've learned from them about the Lord..I've learned about the Word....I've learned that life is short and my life is changed for the better  because I have spent time getting to know these older people that have so much to give. And yet so often these are the ones that are "invisible". These are the ones that are forgotten and set aside. It reminds me of working with the disabled. They are in the same shoes as the elderly. They don't always say the right thing and they often do things "wrong". They spill on themselves and you can't always understand them. They may walk funny, they may drool a little....but they are people who want to be noticed and loved.Take the time to get to know them, the person God made them to be and your heart will be blessed beyond measure.  Oh that we might have eyes like our Savior and see the "unlovable" and love them without measure, just like He has done for us!" :)

Amen, sister and thanks! I want that kind of heart!

For not one of us lives for himself,
and not one dies for himself;
for if we live, we live for the Lord,
or if we die, we die for the Lord;
therefore whether we live or die,
we are the Lord's.
Romans 14:7, 8