“Karen’s Notes!
Insights from a Glory-Bound Lady”

Selected Notes
Volume 2 Number 1, “Things NOT to Do When Helping Hurting Friends” January 2, 2019

Here we are at the start of a brand new year. Perhaps you have resolved that with the Lord’s help that this will be a year that you will be serve the Lord and others. The Apostle Paul wrote of this in Galatians 6:2 and 5.
Let me first share Galatians 6:5, “For every man shall bear his own burden.” This burden speaks of doing those things of which I am solely responsible to do.
Now let me share Galatians 6:2, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” This speaks of crushing heartaches or heavy burdens that are simply too hard for me to carry alone.
I have discovered that looking through Karen’s journals, as she was preparing for upcoming ladies’ retreats and events; she usually used the old fashioned paper and pen method of studying. Long before she became so ill, she was invited to speak at a retreat where ladies were going to be encouraged and trained to serve one another. Here’s what she wrote.
Karen wrote: For those who have never ministered to someone going through “deep waters” let me suggest some things NOT to do.
1. Don’t say, “I know how you feel” unless you’ve really been there.
2. Don’t ask nosy questions just to satisfy your curiosity.
3. Don’t stay for long periods of time unless you really sense God’s leading to do so.
4. Don’t do all the talking. Learn to listen.
5. Don’t give advice unless asked.

Michael’s observation: I love how Karen had a way of getting to the heart of the matter very quickly. Sometimes it takes me a while to get there. It didn’t with Karen! These are good things for us to keep in mind when “Bearing one another’s burdens.”