So I've had a bit of a wake-up call of late. I'd started realising how Alison-focussed I'd become, I'd been trying to think about the world beyond me but hadn't got very far. After doing so poorly in my assessment I reverted back to my old ways pretty quickly... until recently as I've been catching up with various friends who seem to be facing fairly significant difficulties - one whose son-in-law has been diagnosed with cancer, another struggling with depression, one with health issues who's still awaiting results from doctors (potentially cancer), another who lost a pregnancy early on.
My guess is that one of the greatest gifts I can offer each of them is comfort - and even greater, to point them to God who is the greatest comforter, and to pray for them. As I've been struggling over the last year or so this is what I've appreciated most from friends - particularly when they've shared verses about God's faithfulness and verses that have meant a lot to them when they've been through difficult times. Comfort. It's good. And God is the best comforter.
When I've read the verses in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 in the past, 'Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.' I'd always assumed that comforting other people would be something I could do further down the track. I saw it as a sequence of events, that first I would be comforted as I struggled. Then AFTER I'd been healed, I could help comfort others.
But I've realised it's not as neat and tidy as that. That I can comfort people as I go through struggles too. I'm not saying it's good to put immense pressure on ourselves when we're already struggling, but I am saying that sometimes we can share our struggles together, that we can still offer comfort to others when we are struggling.
A friend remarked the other day that it'd be nice if the difficulties in life were served up in nice, neat, manageable packages... but unfortunately usually they're not.
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