Today’s posting comes from my friend Mary Lynne. She’s a good friend and a mental health professional in my area. You might recall she was one of my guest bloggers this past fall.
We are by nature creatures that resist change. Even when we know that it will be good for us. There are certain to be times when we must adapt to either external demands or transitions or to the promptings or callings of God. Either way it’s best to live as fully in the moment as one can for change is on the horizon. And for those striving to live healthy in mind, body and spirit, the rewards of this were mentioned in Paul’s previous blogs.
I would like to offer a NEW framework for how you can approach the challenge of asking for help and how it will serve you in all areas of your life. A distinguished professor of social work, Alan Keith-Lucas gives a great interpretation of how one can accept help in a way that will produce meaningful and internal change that will last.
He identifies four things that must occur and how this process involves the same principles in asking help from God. We must recognize our problems and know that we cannot solve everything ourselves, “which is the true meaning of Repentance.”
Second we must tell someone about the problem, which is Confession (either in the sacrament to in another personal exchange). Third we must recognize another as more knowledgeable than we are in certain areas and this is Submission.
Lastly, we must be willing to exchange the “old and the familiar…for the new and unfamiliar” which is the essence of Faith. Maybe you are frightened or confused about problems which seem unsolvable or overwhelming. But be encouraged that you have most likely been practicing the process needed to problem-solve in your faith journey for many years.
So this process may seem new, but really it is just refining and stretching the old in ways that one could not have imagined. And if temptation and arrows seem to come from all directions in this process….well then you are probably on the path God has laid out for you.
A wonderful minister once said. “If the devil ain’t messing, the Lord ain’t blessing.” So being healthy is essential to not only weather the tides of change but to succeed in the tasks assigned to each one of us individually. It would be a shame to have the hopes, dreams and visions that God sends to each of us personally to accomplish perish because we lacked the confidence or desire to fulfill them…or we would not ask for help.
