The Great Equalizer

I have some really close, wonderful friends. And family members I choose to be friends with, as well. People I have met through school, church, work, living next door to. I have a big circle. And whether your circle is big or small, that's ok. But what I want to talk about is how we can isolate ourselves from people, whether they are in or outside of our circle. And we do this based on one thing...we convince ourselves we are alone. No one understands. No one, no matter what his/her trials, is as bad off as we are. We are alone. And it simply isn't true.
I have stood beside friends and loved ones, some literally, some figuratively. Holding them up with my arms, my heart, my words, and my prayers. And they have done the same for me. When their parent got that diagnosis. Cancer. Alzheimers. As they believed for their healing. Sometimes it came, sometimes it didn't. As they care for their parent, the way that parent once cared for them. As they buried a parent way before their time. Then again, losing a parent is ALWAYS way before OUR time, even if they're ready. When their children got that diagnosis. Cancer. Autism. Chronic illness. Some things that don't even have a name, or whose name I can't spell or pronounce. Stood with them as they sought treatment. As their exhausted brains and bodies planned the next step of treatment. As they buried those children.Their very hearts. Even as they felt the little life they'd already grown to love cease moving inside their womb. As they watched the man they'd prepared to love for the rest of their life, walk away with no explanation. As the man they'd pledged their life to before God and man, gave up on their marriage. As they walked through hard, rocky places in their marriage, not knowing what the next day would hold. As they watched their loved ones turn to a dependence on a substance, and had to watch helplessly as it tore apart the lives of that person, and everyone they loved. Or maybe even they had to watch as they did it to themselves. I've also stood by them as they fought their way back from that dark pit.
My point is not to focus on the horrible things that happen to people. But to point out that there is no one you know, who hasn't faced heartbreak. To say they are handling it differently than we would, whether better or worse, or that they wouldn't understand. When we judge them, or hide ourselves away. We rob ourselves and them of the deep connection that comes from getting real with someone. We need their strength and they need ours. And the Jesus that carried them through it? He carries you. He carries us. He strengthens us, made us overcomers. Called us overcomers way before we felt like we were one. He made us for relationship. Don't hide away, convinced your problems are bigger. Don't judge or fear judgment. Just love and trust. Support and lift up. Pray. We need each other.