I don;t think I could have ended up with a more fitting chapter for me. I needed this reminder for me, both as an encouragement and a reminder as to part of God's purpose for me. For those of you who have known me for awhile, you know that the last six years of my life have been filled will challenges, roadblocks and suffering, I can relate to Paul's comment, "We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it...But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead." verses 8 & 9. There were many times in the past six years that I thought that season wouldn't end or that I couldn't live through it, and neither could my faith. Fortunately, like Paul, the lesson I learned was to rely on God and not myself. Something which increased with time. (Oh, that I could have learned that fully right away). But, as I read some of the other verses in this chapter, I am encouraged and reminded that my suffering and circumstances help me to walk through others' suffering and struggles and offer them the comfort of Jesus Christ. I particularly like verse 4, "He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others." I believe that God walked me down the road of the last six years. Along that road, God built my faith, God remolded my character to make me a more compassionate person, and come to love the person God created me as, and God put on my heart a passion for helping others who struggle in life and feel like they are outcasts from society.
All of us have suffered, all of us have received the comfort of God. The question is what do we do with that? Do we use that as a catalyst to see others' suffering and walk with them to offer them what we have received, or do we use that to crawl into ourselves and live in our challenges? I want to encourage you to let your suffering inspire you to to reach out to others.
Funny, as I write this, I am reminded of some of my friends (who may be reading this) and I realize you, too, have used your suffering to reach out to others and I hope this encourages you that you are of God's path. For those of you who are caught up in the suffering, know that if you allow it, God will use your suffering to help and inspire others. And in that service, you will find joy and purpose for your trials. For me, them became objects of growth for me and experiences that would help me to better understand and help others. God will walk you down that path too, if you are open to it. It will also bring you freedom for the discouragement and depression we can get into when we focus on our suffering.
Not only does this chapter encourage and affirm all that I have walked through, but it also it like a trumpet call, reminding me that is is my purpose to provide comfort to others. To remember that many are suffering and that we were not meant to walk through that alone. God walks through all of our suffering with us, but sometimes God uses us to be that human hand that embraces a friend near the end of their rope, God's voice to pray with a person so discouraged that they can't see past the darkness, or God's ear that listen's to all the woes, fears, and worries so that they can be released from a friend's heart and replaced with hope. Do you hear that trumpet sounding? Can you see someone around you who needs God's comfort? Do you see someone God is calling you to reveal those parts of God to? Don't ignore that call! Sometimes, one word, one gesture acted out in God's purpose makes all the difference to someone. As God has walked with you, walk with others!
The other piece of this...if you are walking the road of suffering, know that around the bend is blessing. I want to encourage you by saying that the six year season of great challenges and difficulties did come to an end for me and God brought me to my own "Promised Land", filled with milk and honey. God brought me to a new place and a new life that is the rainbow at the end of the flood of my life. Oh, I know I will still have challenges and walk in suffering, but I will always have the encouragement of what God has done for me as a reminder of God's faithfulness! Seasons of suffering do not last forever and God's blessings will fall to you in your faithfulness to God.
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