Chuck Swindoll has spent a lifetime pouring into other people. On Matt and Lauren Chandler’s “Between Sundays” podcast, Charisma reports, he admits that receiving care still exposes a wound he has carried since childhood.
“I don’t receive well,” Swindoll told them. He grew up feeling overlooked: his parents missed games and recitals, and the messages at home left him feeling like he didn’t belong. “I grew up unknown,” he said. “Something happens to you when you’re unknown at home.”
Decades of ministry didn’t erase that ache. Even writing a memoir was hard, because he wanted to write about someone who had made a difference, and needed an editor to help him see that his own life qualified. “I still struggle with that,” he said. “I struggle receiving.”
Aging has made the struggle practical. He and his wife, Cynthia, have stopped driving, and they now depend on caregivers for ordinary tasks he once handled himself. Friends bring meals and flowers, and spend time with Cynthia. He can welcome their kindness toward her, then stall when they turn it toward him. “That’s a weakness on my part,” he said. “There’s a grace in receiving.” He also refuses pity: “God’s taken real good care of us. Don’t feel sorry for us.”
My take
That line stayed with me. We talk a lot about the grace of giving, and we should. There’s also a humility in letting people love you. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). If the Holy Spirit is sending help through a friend, don’t turn it away just because the old wound says you have to earn it. Receive it, and thank Him.
God Bless, and Happy hacking!
