Do Unto Others: Not Just a Housewife

While I’m out taking a break and healing from surgery, some of my favorite bloggers and bestest of friends have kindly agreed to help out with an LCMF blog series:

This series will hopefully answer some of your most frequently asked questions about “what can I do?” for someone who might be needing your help or support.

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Hi! I’m Stacy from Not Just A Housewife.

There have been so many times in my life where I have had to accept help. And it is hard.

Growing up my father lived a life of service. He gave of his time, talents, and money. Everyday he served others. It came so natural to him.

He became sick with cancer when I was a teenager and it got to the point where he could no longer run his business. And then it got to the point where he could no longer care for himself. He became completely dependent upon the help and service of others.
For the first time in his life the roles had been reversed. It drove my dad crazy!

It was so hard for him to accept service from others. He eventually was able to come to terms with it and allow all around him to do what they needed to do.

Right before he died, he called us kids in the room and told us that aside from dying, accepting service was the hardest thing he had ever done. He didn’t want us to go through life unwilling to let others serve us. He said it is a humbling yet sweet experience to be on the other side of it. My dad said we needed to let others gain the blessings that come from service.

I was 15 years old when he died. And at the time I thought I was invincible and would probably not have a time where I would need anyone’s help.

Well I was obviously wrong.
There have been more times than I can count where I have needed others.
But the hardest time for me was when my husband was laid off for the first time.

We were okay at first but it did not take long for our saving to be depleted. We got behind on bills. We had lots of food storage but even that started to run out. I sat down one day and finally admitted to myself that we needed help.

Thanks to family and our church we were able to scrape by. It was so humiliating to ask. It made me sick inside at first. But the words of my father came back to me and I tried to be okay with it. I tried to focus on the good that was being done and WHY it was being done.

I felt such love and support as friends found odd jobs for us. I felt uplifted every time a reader would email me a note of encouragement. And I wept when not one, but 2 families provided things for Christmas.

I took that opportunity to let my kids know how important it is to let others serve us. I told them that just like we get blessed when we help others, those who were helping us would be blessed.

I also tried to let them know that it is not just giving money that can help others. I said we could serve even if we didn’t have money.

So that year we did a service project everyday for the month of December.

• Some days it was as simple as making a treat for an older couple in our neighborhood and visiting with them.

I think giving service helped  me to be more okay with receiving it as well.

We have actually been laid off 2 more times since then. Yep, 3 times in less than 2 years. And right now my husband is going through a career change because the economy is so hard for architects right now. I know we would not be in this transitional, but happy place if it were not for the love, support, and SERVICE of those around us.

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Thank you so much for coming Stacy! I knew Stacy would have some amazingly insightful words and ideas.  She and I both lost our fathers way too early in life.  And the best thing you can do with that icky situation….is learn how to help others.  Stacy is an amazing wife and mother.  And she’s SO RIGHT about accepting service.  That is super hard!

Please visit Stacy at her amazing blog: Not Just a Housewife. (she has her own power-tools and knows how to use them. Not kidding!)