Check out Part One HERE.
Supporting people who are going through a personal hell is one of the hardest things to do. So much within myself wants to have the perfect thing to say to comfort, or have the perfect piece of advice that can change their life. Sadly this is most likely the wrong mindset. One of my professors gave this advice: “Go with an open ear, not an open mouth.”
When suffering comes to mind, so do the words from Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:19-24.
“I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.'”
I think the real challenge for Christians isn’t providing support for people in their tough times. I do truly believe we are good at that. Where I think we struggle (and I’m talking to myself here)…is that we aren’t invested enough before the struggles to make an impact during them.
