Aren’t you grateful for what Jesus has done in you? You may have a lot more to grow to get where you (and God) want you to be, but you’re not where you used to be. And paying it forward, helping someone else with their transformation journey, is one of the most powerful ways of experiencing more transformation yourself. Helping others helps you!

You don’t have to wait until you’ve got it all together to begin helping others. Start right now!

That’s what Jesus often encouraged people to do when He was here. The woman at the well in Samaria discovered Living Water. She’d only spent perhaps an hour with Jesus, or less, when she ran back to her town telling everyone she met about the good news. (John 4:28-30) Jesus delivered a man from a legion of evil spirits, and immediately sent him to his family and friends to tell them the story. (Mark 5:18-20)

Yes, you will need to keep saying Yes to the Holy Spirit’s work in your own life in bringing you more and more transformation. But passing on what you have received is a primary way in which God does exactly that. If you want the water in your soul to remain fresh and life-giving, you need to regularly take in, and freely and generously pass it on.

Here are five ways in which helping others helps you.

1. Helps You Remember

When you pass on what you have received it solidifies in your memory what Jesus has done for you. It reminds you of His grace and power in your life.

When the children of Israel entered the Promised Land, they were told to take rocks from the Jordan River that they had just crossed and erect a monument. That monument was to remind them to tell the story of what God had done for them there. (Joshua 4:21-24)

We humans tend to forget. Paying it forward, telling your story, keeps in front of your own awareness how God has rescued and transformed you, even as you continue the journey.

2. Improves Your Mental/Emotional Wellbeing

There’s little that will lift your own spirits more than to lift your eyes from your own troubles and give to others what you have received. Developing a certain amount of other-focus is enormously helpful in providing fuel for joy and meaning. Your own troubles may still be very real, but just the change in focus brings you resilience and hope.

Dr Karl Menninger, Christian Psychiatrist, was asked what he would tell someone who felt a nervous breakdown coming on. “Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need and do something for him” was his reply. It works!

3. Validates Your Own Story

When you pass on what you have received, your own ears hear you share the story. And when you observe someone else’s life being changed in some way because of it, the change you experienced is again validated. It may help you remember what it was like to be blind, and the difference you experience now because you can see.

Not everyone will “receive” your story and your offer to support them in their transformation. That’s OK; it’s been that way ever since Jesus was here. But when someone does find encouragement to take a step forward because of you, it makes it all worth it.

4. Increases Your Faith in God

When you see your story impact someone else’s life, when you see God do something in them perhaps in part through your story, your faith in God increases. Sometimes it’s hard to notice changes in yourself when you’re still struggling, but seeing another person transform helps you see that God is still at work.

You get to experience being part of something bigger than yourself. You begin to sense how everything is not just about you; it’s also about them. This doesn’t mean you only share the good stuff! In fact, being authentic in sharing your story is often what makes the biggest impact on others. You see God turning even what the enemy meant for harm into something transformative for His kingdom.

5. Keeps You Hungry for More

This is perhaps the most important factor of all. When you pay it forward you experience gratitude for what you’ve received, but at the same time you are reminded of how hungry you still are. You couldn’t save yourself, and you can’t get yourself transformed now. It helps keep you dependent on God’s presence, on the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work in you.

There’s perhaps no other area of life where satisfaction and hunger grow together so consistently. The more you pass on what you’ve received, the more gratitude you feel, and the greater your hunger for more transformation. Experiencing something of God only makes you want more, and sharing that gift expands the capacity in your soul for deeper dimensions of who He can be to you.

Because Everyone Needs Transformation

What gets me up every morning is gratitude for what Jesus has done for me, and finding ways to help others experience the same kind of transformation. I want you to have that same experience.

Through supporting Dr Carol Ministries you can help others experience real transformation in the areas they need it so desperately – sexual brokenness, fractured relationships, mental/emotional pain, or toxic religion. And that will deepen your own ability to experience more of the transformation God has for you as well.

I invite you to join our insider group of Friends of Dr Carol Ministries. You’ll receive a monthly message with a behind-the-scenes look at this ministry, a unique message from Dr Carol, and an opportunity to support how God is using this ministry to transform lives.

If God is so directing you, you can give now to financially support Dr Carol Ministries.

And for today and every day, keep helping others! And keep saying Yes to the transforming power of Jesus in your own life and that of others.

Your Turn: How has passing along what you have received from God deepened your own walk with Him? Have you experienced any joy and meaning in that process? I’d love to hear some of your story in the comments below.

Tweetables: why not share this post?

• Helping others helps you. Passing on what you have received helps you remember, strengthens your faith, and deepens your capacity to receive more. Tweet that.