Standing United

"United we stand, Divided we fall"

In a romantic way, but also simply as friends and family we must stand together and support one another. There are too many challenges and struggles that we face to try and carry our entire weight as one person. Each of us have special qualities and gifts that we can use to help others who may need extra strength in that area of life, and those individuals may hold strengths that we can be uplifted by. We must let others help us, I know personally I can be very stubborn at times, but I am really working on opening myself up to the help and support of the people that I consider closest to me.

"I won't give up" by Jana Kramer
I will be by your side
If ever you fall deep in the dead of the night
Whenever you call
And I won’t change my mind
No, I’ll see you through
And I won’t give up
No, I won’t give up
I won’t give up on you

The more time and effort we put into serving and stregthening the people around us the happier we will be. Don't believe me? Try it out.
My fiance told me about a book she read that talks about "The 17 second miracle" long story short, we can change someones day/life by only devoting 17 seconds of our time to them. It could be a simple conversation, holding the door open for the person behind us that is obviously in a rush, or even a smile and hello to someone you can tell is not having a good day, and then there are the times that the way we can help is by doing nothing at all. There are times when I want so badly to try and comfort or communicate with someone I care deeply for, but I have to restrain myself because I know that what they really need is space and quiet time.
Sometimes we give up an event or a period of our personal time to help someone else or offer service in another way. Find the sweet satisfaction in this personal sacrifice. If it is done with a bad attitude complaining the whole time, you will miss out on a great experience.

"Your Guardian Angel" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
I will never let you fall
I'll stand up with you forever
I'll be there for you through it all
Even if saving you sends me to heaven

I appreciate the people in my life who have given me this added measure of strength, I know I would not be here today without them.