A few months ago, I led a devotion at my women’s fellowship. That week, God had put a theme in my daily walk and in my heart. Do you ever have those days where it feels like everything you see and hear is pointing to the same life lesson? Isn’t God persistent? Or is it actually ‘we need a lot of cues to finally Get It ‘ ? With me it’s probably the later.
Second Corinthians tells us that He is the God of All Comfort and it says that he “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God”
It’s speaking of a kind of pay-it -forward experience. We know that it is Healed people who can truly comfort the sick and injured. It’s people who have been Hurt who can support the hurting. Parents who have felt Pain can ease the suffering of other parents in pain. He is the God of all Comfort and He uses Us to comfort other people.
I see this every day. Parents who are facing the unknown for their child. Moms trying to keep multiple appointments, waiting for a diagnosis for their child. Dads who work long hours, worrying about medical bills and unexpected expenses. I’m certain they feel alone. Many have expressed that this new life with its unique challenges is so very different from that of their former peer group. Their friends and co-workers are involved in other routines, other priorities; a life that seems so different than theirs. But if we all look around us, we would see other people who have grieved the pain of loss, grieved a death, or the closing of a door. We would also see many people, regardless of their present circumstances, having asked the famous question: WHY ME LORD?
Second Corinthians answers that question. In fact, Paul qualifies these troubles as affliction or tribulation. Many of us have felt the vice of our daily trials so heavy as to label it as such. And we can take that affliction and use it as a blessing when we use it as a tool, an intervention, or as a uniquely compounded prescription to provide healing for someone God has purposely placed in your life.
We are different ……………..yes. But we are so much the same. And we Need Each Other. Our relationship with other people is God-Ordained. I understand that sometimes being on the receiving end of comfort is not always easy. I have always tended to feel like ” I can do this myself”. However, God has shown me recently that I need the love and prayers of others and that I in turn, do not need to hide my weaknesses, my shortcomings, my hide-under-the-covers kind of trials because the God of All Comfort has a greater plan to use my pain and my story to bless others.
I encourage you to use Your Story, Your Unique Testimony, to encourage someone else. God is still writing your story and you have so much to share.
Thank you Holly Gerth at hollygerth.com for sharing your beautiful quote.