“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it's in your power to help them. If you can help your neighbor now, don't say, ‘Come back tomorrow, and then I'll help you.’ “

–Proverbs 3:27- 28, NLT

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I remember when I moved back to the United States after having studied in London and I was in need of a job. I didn’t know where to start so I looked at the jobs board of an organization that I had admired years before to see if they were hiring. They were hiring, but for positions that I wasn’t qualified for. So, I took a greater initiative and decided to email every Director in the organization, to see if they were hiring in their departments for a position that may not have been formally posted on the jobs page. By blessing, one of the directors wrote back that she was desperately looking for an intern to help assist her staff for their annual conference. She met with me and offered me the job. God was so good, because in that moment I really needed a job and she needed an intern.

Over the months I would observe my boss and listen to the things she said. One of them being: “Women don’t support women and I think it is our duty as women to help other women if we can.” Ever since hearing this I thought about the enormity of such words- that we are called to help others if it’s in our power to do so.

And I don’t think that she realized then the greater benefit that she provided to my life by taking me on. I learned a great deal under her leadership, how to plan events and how to address letters with the utmost protocol to dignitaries. She taught me transferable skills that I have taken with me since leaving the organization.

The younger ones look to the older ones for guidance and wisdom. And when we bless others with something like a job, we find that we might bless them in other ways as well.

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Just this week I had it in my power to help someone get a side job. It really made me think about Proverbs 3: 27-28, and I knew exactly what I was going to write about today. We’ve all be there, we’ve all needed something- our first job out of uni, someone to help us with a task, someone to believe in us and give us a chance, or someone to provide us a service. And because we’ve been on that side of the street, it is our duty as human beings to help others when we cross the street, to a better position in life.

God didn’t create us to be and act alone in this world. We are made to commune with others and that means helping others. God will use people to teach us life’s greatest lessons.

It will be the most difficult of people that make us stronger; the most controlling of people that will make us relaxed and secure; the most insecure people that will make us confident; the most selfish of people that will make us humble; the most selfish of people that will make us giving; the most meanest, angry and evil of people that will make us love and forgive.

God uses people to help us become better people ourselves. If you and I don’t help people when it’s in our power to do so, we will get a taste of our own medicine in some form when we need something. So if you have the power to help someone get a job, or internship, or make a connection for them to get a job- do it. If you have the power to help someone’s child get into a school- do it! If you have the power to help an elderly woman carry her groceries to her car- do it! If you have the power to promote someone who has worked hard and proven themselves- do it!

Don’t worry that by elevating someone or helping someone out that you will lose out. And you’ll know inside when it’s right to help someone. The Holy Spirit will convict you when it’s time to bless others or not. If we truly believe that God will provide and take care of all our needs, then why should we feel competition, or that we will lose out when we help others?

Remember, there is a God who sits high and looks low. And he is looking at those He elevates to high levels of leadership to elevate and bless those under them.

Happy Friday- stay humble, joyful, be blessed, and bless others xx!