Comfort Giver

I have really enjoyed teaching the college age class at Church on Sunday Mornings. I hope those that attend the class have been blessed as well. We have been talking about suffering, why do we suffer?, How it began?, What good is it?, How do we learn from it?, How can we help others? I personally have learned much myself as I have studied this subject. One of the verses that we read this past Sunday was:

2 Corinthians 1:3-5
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

The most important thing about the sufferings, the trials, the troubles that we have in our lives is that we learn from them. As we have gained comfort from God to get us through the hard times, so I believe he allows us to comfort others who are going through the same thing. Count your troubles as a blessing from God to be able to go and help someone else. When I graduated from college with a degree in Graphic Design, I felt I was really ready to take on a new job, that I was qualified enough to handle new projects, to take on the world, so to speak. The difference here is that we don't get to choose what our major(trials and suffering) is. Life hands us all kinds of things, and God can take it and lead you out of it and give you the certification to go and help someone else.

There are so many lessons we can learn if we would open up our eyes. Sometimes we only see the here and now. How tough it is right now, how much pain you feel now. We must learn to see that, although the pain is great now, blessings will soon come, and the hope in Jesus that we have far outweighs any pain we could ever feel. It's not always easy to see that way, but those of us who have been tested, who have gone through those same trials, need to be there for those that have trouble seeing through the pain, and be Jesus to them.

I have learned so much in the past week about how important it is to be an "encourager". To build up and not to tear down. There are people all around us who need that. We don't always know the problems others around us are dealing with, so how much more do you think we should encourage those people then. Who knows if the person you were rude to at a restaurant the other day, just lost a family member or is dealing with trials we could never understand. Be careful what you say, how you act. Just as God gives us comfort we must allow that comfort to overflow into the lives of others.

I'll start: "God loves you and wants all of you, He is waiting to bless you. Have a great day and allow yourself to see God all around you"

Now pass the encouragement around.