When Help Doesn't Come

This is a difficult time of year for so many people, that I thought this post would be best shared now.  I got some very disappointing news today.  I don't often ask for help, but if I do, it's because it is truly vital.  Asking for help is a last resort when I've exhausted all my own strength and means.  But, here I am.  I've run into a situation that I just can't work out on my own.  I need help.  So, I asked.  And today I got the answer I usually get which is a shrug and a brush off.  It was, as I mentioned, deeply disappointing, but not unexpected.  Christians and Do-gooders.  So many of them are too busy doing "good works" to actually lend a hand and do a good work.

I asked for a small amount of help, that would only cost someone's time, maybe an hour a week at most, and was refused by not one but several people all from the same organization.  It's hard to take because I was refused by people who will fly half way around the world to help strangers in a third-world country but won't lift a finger to help someone in their own neighborhood.  Why?  Kindness is kindness, isn't it?  And a person in need is a person in need no matter where they live, aren't they?

It's hard for me not to assume in a moment like this that the reason I was denied was because there was no glory in it for them.  No photo-op to post to social media which displays their good works and shows the world just how good of a person they are.

I may never know their real reason(s) why, but it's harder to face these people now, to see all their photos of all their goodness.  It's even harder when they hold out their hands and ask me to financially support their next trip around the world to help the indigenous peoples of where ever.  It's easy in this moment to become resentful, and then angry, and then bitter.  But I'd rather not go that route if I can avoid it.

What do you do when you ask for help and get none?  How do you hold on to hope?  The knowledge that's always brought me the most comfort in moments like this is just this:  You are never truly alone.  My twelve step program called it "having a higher power."  I call Him God and I wouldn't have made it very far in life without Him.

You see, as much as we want to believe that there will be people in our lives who will be there for us no matter what, the truth is that the only one that most of us can rely on is God, because not only will the people in our lives fail us, but we will fail them and we will even fail ourselves.  God is the only one who never changes and never fails.

If you're going through something difficult and find yourself without a friend, just know you're not truly walking through it alone.  You do have a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  All you have to do is call on His name and spend some time being still and waiting for His answer.   And if it helps, just know that I'm sitting beside you in spirit and I'm waiting and listening too.

I'll find a way to forgive these people and I may even be able to contribute to their good works fund again one day.  Right now, I'm just going to keep going, keep walking through the valley, and focus on the one who never fails.