I held the stack of envelopes in one hand.
“Are you ready?”
She took a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”
The stacks had grown to a small mountain. Some envelopes had red stamps on them. Others were crumpled, as if opened and then tossed into the pile in defeat. The bills arrived in her mailbox after a series of surgeries from an unexpected accident. There seemed to be no end to them, and every day another popped up in the mail.
For the next three hours we opened one envelope after another. We made stacks. We compared bills to make sure there wasn’t errors. We marked payments that had been made, and payments left to be made. With a calculator in hand, we totaled the whole amount. Next, she wrote letters requesting payment plans and enclosed a small amount in each envelope. It wasn’t what they had asked her to pay, but it showed she was trying.
She made such progress that day. She found two errors, one significant, that had not been addressed by insurance after the accident. The letters and follow-up phone calls allowed her to get on payment plans with almost every one she owed.
But perhaps the most important accomplishment is that nothing was pushed down, hidden, or put away for another day, anymore.
I couldn’t help but acknowledge how brave my friend was!
One envelope at a time
I don’t know about you, but there are times when I have to deal with something and I’m tempted to ignore it. It’s just too big. After all, I don’t have enough of whatever it takes to solve that problem. Not enough funds. Not enough courage. Not enough time. Not enough of {fill in the blank}.
When I do that, it gets that much more complicated. It doesn’t go away and the stress of it grows.
Fear says, “You can’t conquer the mountain.”
Courage says, “I can climb it one step at a time.”
As we ask for help, that’s brave. The only reason I was able to show my friend how to do this is because I walked through the same thing years earlier as a young mom with Stage 3 cancer. I remembered my own stack of unpaid and relentless bills, and how overwhelming it all seemed.
Together, it felt a little less mountainous.
Remember this, when things are huge, God isn’t disappointed in the fact that you are overwhelmed, or that it seems too big — because it is big. Instead, He offers wisdom, direction, and hope.
God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. (Ephesians 3:20-21 The Message)
What is your envelope?
Your “envelope” may not be a mountain of bills. It may be that relationship, or that dream you are trying to achieve, or an unwanted event you didn’t see coming. It may be parenting in the midst of a pandemic.
Opening the envelope means that we aren’t afraid to say that it’s big. That’s the truth.
Opening the envelope means we take one small step — make that phone call, have that conversation, call a counselor, share with a godly friend — with the understanding that facing that big thing is brave. When that step is complete, we take another, and then another.
Opening the envelope means we aren’t afraid to ask for help in areas that are new for us. We all face things that are new or unfamiliar. But it also means that there just might be someone who has walked through this, who can walk through it with you too.
Father, I pray for my friend who is walking through big and hard things right now. I’ve been there, more than I’ve wanted to be. First, I pray for hope and peace and encouragement to soak over her heart. I pray that you’d help her open one “envelope” at a time, and bring the little she has (that we all have) to it, and then Lord you’d multiply it. I pray for direction. I pray for one step that she can take today and another tomorrow, with your help, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Resources
In today’s episode of More Than Small Talk podcast, Holley, Jennifer, and I talk about “You are Enough.” I love the honesty of these conversations, and also the hope in them. Discover all the ways you can listen here.
Hey friend, I’d love to invite you to join me in the TogetHER Community and Bible Study Facebook group. It’s a private group where we study, pray, and connect. We are currently going through the study, “Finding the Freedom in Forgiveness (and how to live it). Check it out!
If you want a resource to confront those joy stealers like “you are not enough,” JoyKeeper: 6 Truths That Change Everything You Thought You Knew About Joy, offers practical and spiritual help that moves you from those joy stealers to live as a joykeeper. Find out more.
Suzie, this is so good. I shared with two of my daughters, some friends, and I’m tucking a copy away for myself as well. I hope you’re doing well… I miss having the chance to see you in person. 💞
Thank you, Shelley. I follow what you are doing and love how you make a house feel like a home. You are wildly creative and gifted.
Thank you and I receive the courage from this work. God bless
This couldn’t come on a better day. I literally cried myself to sleep last night, so worried about my 14yo son and what the isolation of the pandemic has done to him. He hasn’t been in school in a year, has only seen his friends once in that time (on his birthday), and his friends parents are too afraid to let them be together. The church I would normally count on to help keep him grounded has been closed as well and online just isn’t the same. He’s gone from a joy filled kid to one whose voice seems to be shrinking and someone who spends hours sleeping after school even though he’s had plenty of sleep each night. I know he’s depressed and it’s heartbreaking to watch someone that young go through something like that. And of course, I can’t do a single thing to change his situation. Thanks for your words, Suzie. As always, you are a glimmer of hope. <3
Laura, I am praying for you and your son. Isolation has taken its toll on everyone, young and old, and it is heart-breaking. A friend told me, “It’s been easy to become invisible during this pandemic.”
I am a mom, grandma, and a retired teacher. Both of my sons are teachers; one teaches online, and the other teaches in person five days a week, and I have many friends who are still teaching. So this issue of educating our children is important to me – how to balance safety with the need for face-to-face instruction and interaction with other students. The same concerns apply, of course, to church. My granddaughter is not in school yet, but looking forward, I wonder what it will be like for her. This pandemic has so many unknowns, and that is scary.
My go-to Bible verses are Isaiah 41:10 and Psalm 91, which I have heard described as Spiritual 911.
I pray that as you and your son find shelter in the Most High, He will strengthen you, help you, and uphold you with His victorious right hand.
❤️❤️❤️
I just love your envelope analogy. Sometimes those envelopes can feel like huge freight deliveries at your front door. Your encouragement to open them, and take a step by step approach to solving them, is so soothing and practical. Thank you for sharing your hard-won wisdom.
Envelopes, we all have them. Thank you for sharing the courage it takes to open those envelopes and deal with each of them proactively and creatively. You’re such a blessing, Suzie. May the Lord surround you with His shield of love.
Thank you Suzie.