Empathy Loves

        Company

   By G.P. Avants

“ So we can comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have been comforted with.”

                             2 Corinthians 1:4

Have you ever been through a “dark time” in your life? Have you ever had time when you feel your entire life seems beyond your control for an extended period of time?

I thought it was the end of the world when I went through two years of depression back in the early 90’s. I couldn’t think why God would allow this and for what purpose it could all possibly accomplish. It was like a horrible crushing wave not unlike a hurricane of emotions and feelings pulling me apart. How could God bring anything good out of it and have it all make sense? 

Recently, I have talked with others who have gone through similar experiences. When they spoke I knew right away what they were going through. The wonderful thing was that I knew that God would get them through it if they eventually put it into His hands. Helping them was like crossing over a roaring river in the dark of night. I could tell them where to step and what to avoid to make it safely to the other side. 

The Lord allows us to suffer but it is always with a greater purpose  than ourselves. Empathy is being able to truly feel what others are experiencing first hand. We can comfort and encourage others who travel the same troubled path we have. 

Jesus did that for us. Yes, we have heard this before but, it means nothing until we experience the sufferings we face in life: When your heart is broken for the first time. When you’re broke and mom and dad can’t help you. When you’re really sick and you view your mortality for the first time. When the stresses of life wear you out and you just want to sleep and never wake up. These are some of those things for which we need to know that we aren’t the only ones suffering though it.

            Just to know that the Lord got others through, we can have the hope to pass the tests ourselves. When we have made it through, it is our joy to help those coming after us to have victory in trials as well. 

So, when you are experiencing sorrows, trouble and pain you don’t have to view it as a bad thing.  Pray that the Lord would help you see beyond the trouble and catch a glimpse, even a sliver, of how He will show himself through it. 

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