With the comfort with which you’ve been comforted.

I’ve read that verse so many times in my life.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

So He comforts us and in return we are to comfort others.  I never quite caught on to the meaning of that verse until recently.   I know.  It seems obvious. 

But it wasn’t. 

I didn’t want to be comforted just so I could be there for others.  Because that meant I needed help.   I had a need for comfort. 

And that just didn’t sit well with me.

I lost my mom.  In my opinion, way too young.  Maybe it was God’s time, but it was not mine. 

Angry doesn’t begin to cover the myriad of emotions I experienced then…and still experience now.

Losing someone sucks. 

The heartbreak that follows sucks. 

The hurt that reminds us we are human is something we all experience if we live long enough. 

And that is enough to bring you to your knees.  Sometimes to scream.  Sometimes to cry.  Sometimes just whisper to God and ask “why”!

I will NEVER understand this side of Heaven.

If I say that I have moved on from those emotions, I would be lying.  

It gets easier to deal with but it never truly goes away.  

There.   The feelings that I try to keep away from the eyes of others are there for you to see.   To read. 

And if you’ve been there…to understand.

You’re thinking I’ve veered off course from where I started. 

But I haven’t.  I just had to get you to the mindset I’m at now.

And that mindset is that no matter how many of these feelings I run through on a daily basis, HE is always there to comfort me.

He lets me cry.   He lets me scream.  He lets me be mad because He knows I’m human and flawed and He loves me anyways. 

He loves me with a love that surpasses all understanding. 

And in that great love, He comforts.

In the years that have passed, I’ve stepped beside two of my very dearest friends as they experienced this same heartache.

I cried with them.  I laughed at the memories with them. 

And I comforted them. 

I prayed to God on their behalf to heal the hurt and let them lean on me.

And knowing I could, because of what I had been through all those years ago, brought me closer to them.

If I looked back and I could go back, would I CHOOSE to go through this just to be there for them.   Selfishly, no.

But am I honored to be a comfort to them with the comforting spirit that He gave to me at that time?

ABSOLUTELY.

No doubt about it.

In this life we WILL have tribulations.  If at all possible, use them to help someone down the road.

Because while it doesn’t remove the heartache, it dulls it just a little bit each time.

Until next time…