The Journey of Life – Journey Together & Help One Another

Do you have friends who journey together with you through life? Listen to Carol as she talks about our journey through life together.

Journey of Our Lives

Sometimes the journey of our lives seems to be a series of never ending hills and valleys, twists and turns and the light in the distance never gets any closer. We see the top of the next hill and wonder how deep the coming valley might be. Once we are deep in the gully, we wonder how to climb back out the other side.

I remember my first trip to British Columbia, decades ago. The number one highway had not been completed through the Roger’s Pass. We went on a road called the Big Bend. The narrow road with its switchback turns and no shoulders needed to be shared with a huge volume (or so it seemed to me) of logging trucks. The drop off the mountain on one side and a solid wall of rock on the other made it feel like we had nowhere to go if another vehicle lost control.

It was the one time I remember getting car sick. I have a hard time remembering the beauty that must have surrounded us on that trip because the car sickness and fear blot out the wonderful aspects. They became the shadows that blocked the light of the picture in my memory.

Visiting British Columbia

Through the years I have had the opportunity to visit British Columbia many more times. The roads have improved and are still improving. The introduction of more modern technology and increased traffic have meant many places of road construction, less hairpin turns and widened roads made by blasting through the rock.

It takes years to make a section of road easier to travel. Even though most of the road to the Okanagan is wider, safer and an easier trip, some places still have tight turns, long climbs and steep downhill sections because there are no other options in the mountains. .

Life can be like traveling on an old or out of the way mountain road. We long for more power to make it up the side of the hill and speed to get out of the bottom faster but without losing control. We pray for an easier road but God does not give us easy. He gives what is best for us to grow and keep us relying on his power to help us.

God Answers Our Prayers

In the midst of the hills and valleys on this journey of life, God answers our prayers in different ways. He asks others to walk alongside and help us through tough times. He asks us to help others.

Sometimes, even though we know we could use some help or desperately need help, we might have a hard time accepting it. A number of years ago we lived in a small town. The church we attended had an average Sunday morning attendance of sixty on a good Sunday. Everyone knew everyone else. If someone got sick, others knew about it and offered to help.

A Serious Lung Infection

I got a serious lung infection compounded by the beginning of asthma symptoms and ended up in the hospital. We owned our own business which kept my husband busy all day. Our youngest two children still lived at home – a son in high school and our youngest daughter who had some special needs. After a week of being sick, two weeks in the hospital and still not able to breathe well once I got home, you can imagine that my house needed a bit of attention. One of the church ladies arrived at my door with some home baked bread. What a wonderful gift. But she asked me a question as well. “Do you need some help to clean your house? We’d love to come and help.”

What a gracious offer of help. But I also remember my answer, “No that’s okay. We’ll manage.”

Help One Another

Help one another is a command in Scripture for believers. Help one another is a good way to journey this life together. I have offered to help others when I can. But I had a hard time – an impossible time accepting the help when I needed it.

This dear lady knew I needed help. That was obvious to anyone who knew us and everyone in church and lots in the community knew the situation. She told me something I have never forgot. “You make it really hard to bless you.”

Wow. That truth reached out and grabbed hold of me. I mulled it over. I had refused because I had been embarrassed about the needs I had, yet she already knew the need. I wish I could say I relented and let the church ladies come and clean but I didn’t. My mom showed up a few days later and just took over and did what needed to be done.

Journey of Life

I wish I could say I totally learned this lesson and have always accepted help when I needed it since that time,  but in my imperfect state, too often I try and do things myself so I do not impose on others. Accepting help and not just offering to help others is still a work in progress on my journey of life.

Life, with its vast array of puzzle pieces, is daunting enough even with help. What stories are part of your journey – stories of help accepted or refused, stories of help given? My challenge for all of us is to realize we need to not only give help but accept it as well.

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