From an early age my mother taught me to be self-sufficient. "Don't count on anyone, but yourself." She lived her life much that same way, not counting on anyone, possibly because she lived through the depression. She came from a large family and then having eight children of her own, she lived much of her life struggling. So I understand why she taught me her "golden rule" of life.
So I became a do-it-yourselfer. But one of the differences in my mom and me besides the "great depression" is that early on I looked to God for help. Maybe because of what my mom lived through, I never saw her look to God for help. A good friend and minister of mine told me that people in her generation didn't express their faith as we do today. So maybe she did, but in her own way or behind closed doors.
But in her last few months, I saw that change. The most memorable time of my life with my mother was when in tears, she asked me to pray as we sat at the table, just the two of us ready to eat dinner. She was near the end of her life and she was reaching out to God. She had just barely made it through major heart surgery at 89 years old. She wasn't asking God for continued healing, but to help her understand why she had so much discontent with others who were in her life and to help her as she came in contact with them. I don't think she liked the person she had become through many years of self-sufficiency. There was a flaw that had been created through "self-sufficiency."
There are many things in our life that make us who we are or as we like to say "builds character." For many people who don't believe in God or even those who believe there is a God, but He doesn't get involved in our lives; they are in the self-sufficiency mode of life. When faced with "this is it" they won't like what they see in themselves. Self-sufficiency isn't all that it is cut out to be.
Many Christians and myself included sometimes fall into the self-sufficiency mode thinking we don't need anyone else; we can go it alone. God has taught me a great lesson working at Christian Medical & Dental Associations in a job that is challenging and often overwhelming, lean on Him always.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
So I became a do-it-yourselfer. But one of the differences in my mom and me besides the "great depression" is that early on I looked to God for help. Maybe because of what my mom lived through, I never saw her look to God for help. A good friend and minister of mine told me that people in her generation didn't express their faith as we do today. So maybe she did, but in her own way or behind closed doors.
But in her last few months, I saw that change. The most memorable time of my life with my mother was when in tears, she asked me to pray as we sat at the table, just the two of us ready to eat dinner. She was near the end of her life and she was reaching out to God. She had just barely made it through major heart surgery at 89 years old. She wasn't asking God for continued healing, but to help her understand why she had so much discontent with others who were in her life and to help her as she came in contact with them. I don't think she liked the person she had become through many years of self-sufficiency. There was a flaw that had been created through "self-sufficiency."
There are many things in our life that make us who we are or as we like to say "builds character." For many people who don't believe in God or even those who believe there is a God, but He doesn't get involved in our lives; they are in the self-sufficiency mode of life. When faced with "this is it" they won't like what they see in themselves. Self-sufficiency isn't all that it is cut out to be.
Many Christians and myself included sometimes fall into the self-sufficiency mode thinking we don't need anyone else; we can go it alone. God has taught me a great lesson working at Christian Medical & Dental Associations in a job that is challenging and often overwhelming, lean on Him always.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5
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