Asking for help can improve your relationship with God

Thank you for all your prayers and support concerning Monday’s post.  I am so grateful to have this community of readers (known and unknown) who share their encouragement with me when times get tough.  It means more to me than you’ll ever know.  Thank you!

Because I’ve been down in the dumps, I’ve been doing more reading verses writing lately.  The ebb and flow of life include times for giving and times for receiving.  Recently, I am more in need of help.  I feel like I am taking and taking and taking.  This dependency has left me feeling self-centered, weak, and inadequate.

My husband and I were reading the Meditation of the Day in the Magnificat last night and came to a reflection on “dependency” that really struck us.  The article was written by Tiffiny Gulla, a composer and choreographer who was working near the WTC on 9-11.

“My Life is no longer who I know, all my contacts, what I can do – because I can no longer do what I was able to do physically.  Now my life is just Him, on whom I fully depend…I have to give everything to everyone because I am so dependent.  But if I had not already been in a relationship of dependence on Christ, accepting so much help would be unbearable.”

It is so difficult to ask for help.  I think everyone struggles to let other people help them from time to time.  I know, personally, I want to do everything by myself.  I want to be independent and strong, and honestly, I just want to be super-woman.  For whatever reason, asking for help is synonymous with being a weakling or a failure.  But this is far from the truth.

The more we are dependent on God the easier it will be to ask for help or accept help from others.

In a certain paradoxical sense, receiving help is still giving.  It is the giving up of control and the giving up of your life to others.  When you ask for others to give to you, you are giving them an opportunity to serve Christ.

Keeping this reflection in mind, I am going to practice asking for help before things get out of control.

Prayer of Trust in the Sacred Heart

In all my temptations, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In all my weaknesses, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In all my difficulties, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In all my trials, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In all my sorrow, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In all my work, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In every failure, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In every discouragement, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In life and in death, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.
In time and in eternity, I place my trust in You, O Sacred Heart of Jesus.