{"id":6848,"date":"2016-01-13T12:59:11","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T18:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lovingonme.com\/?p=6848"},"modified":"2017-03-16T12:29:38","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T17:29:38","slug":"loving-on-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/2016\/01\/13\/loving-on-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Loving On Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"For me, this year\u00a0just feels different. Many soul-shaking events from last year have shaped how I want to move forward in 2016, and I sense many of you may feel the same. My resolutions typically involve weight loss, financial goals, or relationship improvements, but now more than ever I find myself longing to connect with my community \u2014a hurting community. This recently became crystal clear.<\/p>\n

On December 26th, nature unleashed deadly tornadoes near my home in North Texas taking 11 lives, including a 3-day-old baby, and destroying over 1,100 homes. In seconds, vicious 150 to 200 mph winds obliterated houses, cars, and turned people\u2019s lives completely inside out.<\/p>\n

As the storm bore down, my daughter and I were holed up in a dressing room, caught off-guard by the storm warnings while shopping. I heard it was veering east and felt relief, but then felt guilty for thinking that because it meant others were in harm\u2019s way. I instantly began worrying for my mother and other friends and family whom I knew were in Mother Nature\u2019s raging path.\u00a0Texts and Facebook posts were in hyperactive mode as people checked on friends and loved ones from afar. Status updates like \u201cAre you safe?\u201d \u201cHouse is good. Neighbor\u2019s house is gone.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re all safe here,\u201d flooded my timeline.<\/p>\n

A barrage of news reports quickly revealed the destruction and showed people dazed and in shock. I learned that dear family friends of mine<\/a> had lost their home. During the storm, 22 of their family members huddled in a small hallway, holding on for their lives as the winds sucked open doors. Among them were 17 grandchildren and an 82-year-old grandmother who had been shielded by her son-in-law. Miraculously, no one was hurt.<\/p>\n

As the hours passed, I began to see glory rising out of the storm as people from all walks of life, first responders, and emergency relief organizations cohesively worked together to help the helpless. Suddenly, nothing else mattered but lending a hand to a neighbor.<\/p>\n

A few days later, I saw these groups and volunteers in action again when I visited the disaster relief resource center in Garland, the town hit by the EF-4 tornado. People from all over were showing up, donating, signing up to volunteer, serving food, and receiving training to go out in the field to clear debris. City staff, first responders, churches, the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Samaritan\u2019s Purse, Operation Blessings, The Lion\u2019s Club, In-N-Out Burger, Central Market, The Islamic Association, and SAS (San Antonio Shoemakers) \u2013 all showed up in every way possible for their community. It was amazing to witness. That\u2019s what inspired today\u2019s blog topic: Loving On Others.<\/p>\n

That same day, I heard a sermon from Pastor Andy Stanley out of Atlanta<\/a> that further confirmed my topic. He focused on setting New Year\u2019s resolutions about making the world a better place. He referenced the Bible book of Nehemiah, a man brokenhearted when he learned Jerusalem was in trouble. As a governor, he lived among royalty and carried great influence, but he wept for his brethren in a town that was falling apart. His mission in life turned to helping Jerusalem rebuild. If you\u2019ve ever listened to Stanley, he always sums up with profound calls to action. This time, he asked \u201cwhat breaks your heart?\u201d He said we should go out and get involved in causes or issues that break our hearts because when we do, it makes us better people.<\/p>\n

I realize this is not a new notion, but I\u2019m convinced that one of the most impactful ways to practice \u201cLoving On Me\u201d is to practice \u201cLoving On Others.\u201d When the storms of life come, that\u2019s what we\u2019re called to do \u2014 to rise up, reach out, and help make the world a better place.<\/p>\n

Do your resolutions involve helping others? Is there something happening in the world or in your town where your talent, passion and skills could be put to use for the greater good? Do the hurting and the least of these make you weep like Nehemiah? Was there a time when people helped you through your storm and now you want to find a way to pay it forward?<\/p>\n

What breaks your heart? How will you practice \u201cLoving On Others\u201d in 2016?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Resolve to make yourself a better person by making the world a better place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":12262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sharing_disabled":false,"switch_like_status":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[204997546,114917237],"tags":[2528,401,165488604,58448980,204997831],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000073923803_Medium-1024x745.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eAxC-1Ms","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12263,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6848\/revisions\/12263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovingonme.com\/2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}