Show Up

I know it’s been awhile, so Hi! It’s me, Tahnee!

The Lord has been doing a huge work in my life since 2019, after the cancer, which is where most of you started following me. I have done the hard work of healing. Healing my body, which is still a work in progress. It’s so amazing what the human body can go through and come back. It’s been 5 years and I’m still trying to heal my physical body from the effects the cancer and treatments had on me. Healing my mind, which I didn’t realize how much I was suppressing in order to survive. I had a lot of Jesus and a lot of therapy. I have learned how to forgive, I have learned how to be a good friend, I have learned how to love people better, I have learned compassion and grace and how to have fun again. I have learned how to have feelings and even what feelings are. I will never be the same and I think that’s the point. I graduated out of oncology and out of therapy. I’m seeing natural doctors again, since my body responds better to natural healing than western medicine. They are helping me get everything back in balance.

God has been telling me to get back to writing and I have been working on a devotional this year. Recently, I felt the nudge to write in this blog again but I didn’t know what to write.

Yesterday, I was reading my Bible in Mark chapter 2, verses 1-5. It says:

“When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man to his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

That’s as far as I got because I felt The Holy Spirit’s Presence and tears were rolling down my face. As you read on in this chapter, the man is instantly healed. He was healed BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITH.

I was so overwhelmed by the sheer love his friends had for him. They would do whatever it took to get him to Jesus. They wanted their friend healed and they believed. They weren’t going to stop until they brought their friend to Jesus.

I have seen many many miracles with my own eyes. I have seen too much to ever doubt the power of God. I know this is possible and still happens today.

The people you have around you truly matter. If you are around people who are talking the talk and walking the walk, chances are you will too. Iron sharpens iron. On the flip side, if you are around people who are negative, rude, and have a lot of drama, chances are that will also rub off on you.

What does it look like to carry your friends to Jesus? What does it mean to carry your friend, climb on a roof, destroy the roof and lower your friends to Jesus? Here is what I think it looks like:

1. Intercession. Intercession is simply talking to God for your friends. It’s putting yourself in their position and praying from Heaven to Earth. It’s calling things forth. Calling healing, calling peace, calling provision. Whatever it is, you are interceding on their behalf.
2. Show up. Be there during the good and the bad. If you think someone else will do it, you are right, someone else sure might. But if God has given you these people in your life to care for, you might be the person He has sent to be there for them. HEAR ME HERE: A need does not constitute a call. It is so important to listen to The Holy Spirit on this, otherwise you will run yourself ragged. Show up in whatever capacity you can in whatever season of life you are in. Send an old fashioned card, send a text. It doesn’t have to be extravagant. Just show up.
3. Believe. Believe with them. Believe that God will finish the good work that He started.
4. Ask the questions and really care. Everyone wants to know someone cares. Listen and hear your friends.
5. Don’t judge or be critical. We are no better than anyone else. Whatever your friends are going through, just be there for them, validate their feelings and be careful with their heart. Speak truth in love and make sure they know you are for them and not against them. As a Jesus follower, we are unfortunately known for what we are against and not what we are for, which is for Love, for Jesus, for His Truth. I have heard it said you will never look into the eyes of someone Jesus does not love.

What else would you add to this?

Maybe you are reading this and thinking, “But I don’t have any friends or a community.” Get yourself into a community! Whether it is at your children’s school or volunteering at a soup kitchen, we are made to be in community. Is it risky? Yes. Are you going to get your feelings hurt? Probably. People are messy. But if you can make friends who will lead you into the presence of God- that’s where the gold is. There is nothing like it.

There is an old country song that if you have been around me long enough you know I love this song by Tim McGraw called Live Like You Were Dying. It says, “And I became a friend a friend would like to have.” Be that friend.

You might be the answered prayer for someone. This life isn’t about us. It’s about loving others. Not being a doormat. Not being taken advantage of. Just loving others in whatever capacity you have available.

Love,

Tahnee