Housewife MacGyver: Not-so-SELF-reliance with Heather

Here to add her two cents to the discussion about self-(or not)-reliance this month is my dear friend Heather. On top of being incredibly creative and awesome, Heather is one of the sweetest and kindest people I know. I'm so happy to have her here today to share!

Hey!  I'm Heather.  I document my lives adventures over at The Many Adventures of Heather and Squidget.  I love a good laugh, being creative, clearance racks, and my wonderful little family. You can hop on over some time to see craft ideas, recipes, and stories of the crazy things that always seem to happen :)  I am excited to share my thoughts with you today.  My life has been full of some pretty big challenges, and I would love to be able to use what I have learned to help make those kinds of things easier for anyone who might be going through them.

I enjoy my life for the most part, but sometimes things just become more than I can take. I am sure we have all had these moments. Just when you need to be out the door, you look down to find that you're wearing the contents of your fridge on your clothing, you drop a nice hot pan of something you have carefully prepared on the floor and burn yourself AND have to throw it all away. You discover your favorite piece of clothing no longer fits. These things happen to all of us, and we can usually cope pretty well with one or two at a time, but on occasion, life starts piling it on.

Sometimes I really feel like Lucille Ball in the episode of I Love Lucy where she gets a job at the chocolate factory. She does all right putting the chocolates in the boxes even though it is challenging. But every time she thinks she might just have a hang of things, they speed up the conveyor belt. Lucy does every thing she can think of to try and deal with the onslaught of chocolates. She tries eating them and even puts them in her hat and clothing. And in the end Lucy looses the job.

We are at the end of that conveyor belt sometimes when it's turned up to extra super fast mode. One thing after another goes wrong and it just does not seem to stop. It would be nice if our problems were as easy to deal with as chocolates (they sure would be a whole lot tastier :)

The fact is sometimes, we can't succeed on our own. We need help!

You may have heard the saying "When life gets to hard to stand, get on your knees". I find that there is great wisdom in this advice. We can all have help from our Heavenly Father any time we need it. He is never too busy. He always listens. He loves each one of us and wants us to be happy. If we ask him for the strength we need, he will help us accomplish great things. He can heal broken hearts and lead others to our aid. Reading his words in the Bible and Book of Mormon are also His way of comforting and helping us in our times of need. He is ready and willing to bless and help us, all we need to do is ask.

We also need to know when it's time to ask for help from others. It can be such a scary thing to do. It seems we need to put on a good face for people, even when we are a mess behind closed doors. Even though asking others for help seems like not taking care of ourselves, remember it takes a brave and wise person to admit when they can no longer do something alone.

We need to do our part to help ourselves by letting those who can help us know we are struggling. Church leaders, family and friends all love us. More often than not people are overjoyed to be able to lend us aid. People can receive blessings in their own lives by serving others, so when it is our turn to need help, we shouldn't deny others the opportunity to serve us.  It can also help us grow closer to those serving us.

We are not alone. We are children of a Heavenly Father who loves us and knows us perfectly. He wants to bless us, all we need to do is ask. Our answered prayers may come as a quiet comforting moment, or a feeling in our heart. They may also be answered through the people in our lives, whether a smiling store clerk or a loved one who calls at just the right time, they are blessings from our loving Father.

Don't go it alone. Don't struggle by yourself. Don't believe the lie that your problems are not important enough to deserve the help you need. Open your heart to those whom you love and trust and let them help you. No matter what kinds of troubles life throws your way, monumental or minuscule, physical or emotional, financial or spiritual, chocolate related :) or otherwise, you NEVER have to face it alone.

Thanks, Heather! Heather and I were neighbors in a former life, and often the heaven-sent smiling face for me was hers! Stop by The Many Adventures of Heather and Squidget to hear more from Heather and check out her super cute (and easy) crafts. 

This post is part of the Housewife MacGyver series on just Lu. Read more about Housewife MacGyver and see all the posts in the series here.