Today I found out that a dear friend of ours is struggling in some very rough waters.
I felt devastated when I heard the news. I reflected back to a time when I had been in the very same situation. I remembered feeling full of pain and fear and ill equipped to handle it. As I prayed for their family I remembered something from another really hard time in our life...our Worst Day.
Years ago Steve and I found ourselves in the middle of a day we couldn't have imagined, sitting quietly alone in a hospital room in shock and loss. As he held my hand he prayed that through our experience God would "make us usable and use us".
In the days that followed we desperately clung to the hope and promises we found in the Bible. One verse in particular stood out. 2 Corinthians 1:4 says that God comforts us in our time of trouble, so that we can comfort others when they experience their own trouble, sharing with them that same comfort we have received from God. It gave us a sense of some purpose in the midst of our sorrow... that perhaps one day we could use all of our own pain to help someone else find Hope.
Today when that short prayer of Steve's came to my mind I remembered that God has always been our comforter... in that Worst Day and in all the challenging, painful, scary days that have happened since. Our challenges were not in vain. They have prepared us to be useful in someone else's time of need. Through all of those difficult days He has comforted us and equipped us so that we can share that comfort, with credibility with others who are hurting and need hope.
So that we can be a light.
Remember the song from childhood?
This little light of mine.
I'm gonna let it shine...
Hide it uner a bush? Oh No!
I'm gonna let it shine...
What is in your story that could be useful to bring comfort and light to someone else?
We've all encountered a dark time in our lives when we really needed a light to shine.
Has someone shared their light with you? Can you share that light with someone else?
Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.
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