It's Okay to Need!

I've been struggling lately with needing. I hate feeling like I can't do this life alone. I hate needing help. I hate asking for help. I struggle to accept help when it's given. I've been angry at myself for how much I need my husband. Overall, I've judged myself as weak and selfish and have honestly felt ashamed. But then I read something in None Like Him, the book by Jen Wilkin that I've been reading.

What? Come again? We're created to need. Yes. A need is a limit, and since only God is self-sufficient and limitless, need is part of our created nature. As I reflected on that statement and thought about the Garden of Eden, I realized that God created Eve because Adam needed companionship before the fall. God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so he gave Adam another human being (Gen 2:18). This means need is not a sin. In fact, it might be quite the opposite. Not admitting I need might be the real sin, because I'm trying to act like I'm on par with God, an entirely self-sufficient being. Yikes!

It's incredibly freeing to see my neediness as at least neutral, or even as good. Neediness forces me to run to God as my ever-present refuge and fortress in trouble (Ps 91:2). Neediness allows me to acknowledge my brokenness and sit with others in theirs. Neediness allows me to draw close to others as they minister to me and I minister to them in the ways that God has called us and gifted us. Neediness strengthens and deepens my will to persevere and helps me see that God can work good out of any situation. Neediness allows me to feel close to others and to relish the closeness that our human frailty brings.

My name is Sarah. I'm needy. I guess that's okay.