Brush off your shoulders

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I'm finding that it's imperative to reach out to the needy regularly, not just to be Jesus' hands and feet to those who really need encouragement and physical resources where they are in life and most of all, Christ, but I need to do it for myself too. To brush off all the feelings of incompetence, of hurt, of being ignored, and every other negative feeling that latches onto my identity throughout the week. The way people treat us sometimes confuses us and clouds our understanding of who we really are. But for me, reaching out to others reminds me that God gave me a kind heart and that's who I am. Caring for others softens our hearts again so we can see the compassion and beauty God lay in our hearts, and it's at the core of who we are in the image of Him. I tend to forget who I am so easily..

Makes me understand these verses a bit more:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard."
-Isaiah 58:6-8

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