look at 2 corinthians 1.3-4 in the message. HE comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, HE brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as GOD was there for us.
if you're not in pain right now, what does this verse say? can you remember that pain you went through months ago, or years ago? if you can, you have an obligation to help other people through the same hurt you've gone through.
GOD allows us to go through problems, comforts us, so we can turn around and comfort other people with the same comfort we've received.
you don't know all the lessons you learned from it? people in pain don't need advice. they just need someone to say, "i understand. i know what it's like to have a child die. i know what it's like to go through a divorce. i know what it's like to lose your job overnight. i know what it's like to miss a goal, a dream."
GOD never wastes a hurt. if you have had a problem in your life that you have gone through, you have an obligation to other people to help them through it too. that's your ministry.
GOD wants to use the hurts you've had in your life to encourage others. whether you've learned anything or not, just the very fact that you can say, "i understand. i know where you're coming from. i remember the loneliness. i remember the pain. i remember the rejection. i remember what it felt like to be brought up in the home of alcoholic parents. i know what it's like to be brought up where my mom walked out the door and never came back. i know what it's like."
there are people all around you who need your comfort. they need your help.
just a thought from the front porch…
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