Surrender Season Series: Pt 8 My Sister’s Keeper – When Surrender Brings Women Together

Nicole Joseph-Chin

Have you ever been somewhere and you saw other women and wanted badly to reach out and say hello and perhaps pay them a compliment about how lovely they looked? Or maybe you sensed some loneliness or pain and wanted to support them and lend them some prayerful inspiration?

One of the things we are oftentimes guilty of is the act of hesitation and it usually comes from the deeper fear that we might be rejected or that the sister might find that we were not respectful of their boundaries and personal space.

Boundaries are definitely an essential part of making connections and sometimes when our heart feels the need to make connection with others, be it in the same room or at the pew in front of us, or at an event, we should follow our hearts, as an act of surrender.

While some of us may find resonance with this, it will not always be true for all of us. We have to also admit that sometimes we just want to stay focused and keep to ourselves.

However, one of the most beautiful things that can happen when we take that chance is the developing of a new connection and sometimes a sister that becomes a prayer partner or a that counsellor that we did not realise we needed.

In many of our biblical texts, we are heartened to treat strangers with kindness. Hebrews 13:2 reminds us that sometimes we can also be entertaining angels, totally unbeknownst to us.

In 1 Peter 4:9, we also get a reminder not to complain or grumble and that is the best part of the experience of extending a hand to a stranger and becoming our sister’s keeper.

That woman we see at daily Mass may want companionship to go for coffee.

That elder woman a few pews ahead could need a kind word or a smile before going home to a challenging day ahead.

That mother perhaps needs a few hours of sister time while watching the children playing.

That remarkably busy sister we greet during sign of peace could be falling apart on the inside and in need of a gentle word or two.

Many years ago, at a public event, a woman bumped into me and spilled her drink. We became famous friends immediately. At first, she was quite apologetic and ashamed by what had happened but I told her the way we met was not coincidental. And to this day, we have been kind to and supportive of each other in our personal and prayer lives. This is what it sometimes takes to discover our sister’s keeper and then we learn how to truly keep each other.

Nicole Joseph-Chin is the author of Ready to Surrender – “A pocket book of peace, power and purpose”