On being my brother's keeper and showing empathy

I wish to share some thoughts about practical  steps we can make to reach out to people in the body of Christ in the context of being our 'brothers keeper.'

I was struggling with dealing with the chronic condition I am living with and told various brethren to stand with me in prayer because I was feeling overwhelmed with the  difficulties of various challenging symptoms. I know that it is in the nature of chronic conditions that there are flare ups, but I had been experiencing more than what is usual for me, more or less back to back with short breaks in between. This had an impact on my being able to get on with normal life. 

I had prayed , my husband had laid hands on me and prayed but I was still struggling. I got to a place of feeling tired of fighting . I asked various brethren to pray for me after telling them my plight and every single one threw scripture at me and asked me to declare them and to stand on them. This is absolutely good advice, but I was not short of standing and declaring, I was just tired, and my strength was flagging. 

It took a while before I realized I needed to be specific about what and how the brethren should pray. It took me a while to remember what I have learnt through my lifelong journey with health challenges, that the prayer I need is for 'grace to endure.' For I have come to learn that if the Lord will not miraculously take away the challenge immediately, what I need is 'grace to endure' 

On my part , I have decided on a lifestyle of endurance and using every tool available to ensure that I look after this amazing 'temple' body God has given me. My belief is that I need it to operate in this earthly realm , to do God's work and I am often led by the spirit to take on various lifestyle strategies. First, to preserve it well and thus allow it to work at as optimum performance as possible. This has meant that apart from prayer and reading the word, I have payed attention to diet, excercise, my thought life and choosing carefully my everyday tasks and activities as well as noting any changes that show up. 

Every prayer I received from well meaning brethren, was very much appreciated but I  just want to share that it is not always that we should be declaring scripture at someone suffering. We should also try to be like Christ who always in the first instance 'showed compassion'. Sometimes, the best way of 'being our brothers keeper' is to show 'empathy' Sometimes, it is enough to say something simple  like 'I am sorry you are suffering like this, it must be difficult to deal with.' Sometimes, it is valuable to the person to connect with your humanity. 

So,  by all means pray scriptural prayers for the person, but also show your love by using plain and simple empathetic words . Sometimes these simple words can be encouragement for the soul and a booster to help the person rise up and stand again.