HELPING HURTING PEOPLE FIND HOPE
Today’s Message of Encouragement from Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES
(Stories of Real People, Real Events, Real Places) Is dedicated to HELPING Men and Women Find HOPE
THROUGH SHARING GOD’S GRACE and LOVE
(Ron Bainbridge, Editor) (December 18th, 2019)
HELPING HURTING PEOPLE FIND HOPE
(Psalm 139:7-10)
Friend, one of the best ways that you and I can help our hurting friends is by listening to them. Donald Peel, in the Ministry of Listening says, “Creative listening is empathy in action by which some suffering can actually be relieved.”
J.B. Phillips, the British scholar who translated the New Testament into Modern English and helped many younger people to understand the dynamic vibrancy of God's Word, suffered horribly from mental distress, depression and anxiety.
At various times J.B. Phillips was overwhelmed by his own mental pain yet, through all of this, he was able to sensitively minister to people who had doubts that threatened to destroy them. In fact, he developed a worldwide correspondence ministry, which guided readers through their struggles. His example and compassion helped many retain and grow in their faith.
I believe we can also share our hope. We've settled on the belief, if we're in Christ, that suffering doesn't have to be meaningless because God shared it in Jesus. Further, we believe that God is with the sufferer. Therefore we can serve whatever need we find and share our faith in the Christ who has "borne our grief and carried our sorrows."
Friend, there's an old Hasidic story about a student who complains to the rabbi that he's depressed. He feels alone because he is experiencing illness and hard financial circumstance. As they talked, the fire in front of them reduced to a few scattered embers. The teacher then takes the poker and stokes the embers into a heap so that they soon burst into a new warm fire.
The rabbi says to the student, "Did you see what happened when I gathered the embers close together? The fire came back to life. When the coals are separated from each other, there is little heat; but when they are together they get warmth, and the fire is renewed. It's the same with people. Alone we are separated and disconnected and our spirits are in danger of dying. But when we come to each other we get warmth and comfort from one another and hope is renewed.”
My friend, the warmth I derive from God, who says in Jesus that I never have to suffer alone, is the warmth I want to kindle in other hearts so that the flame of God’ s love can warm them well.
The prayer attributed to St. Francis is my prayer as well: "O God, Creator of mankind, I do not aspire to comprehend You or Your creation, nor to understand pain or suffering. I aspire only to relieve the pain and suffering of others, and I trust that in doing so, I may understand more clearly Your nature, that You are the Father of all mankind, and that the hairs of my head are numbered.”
To all our friends who read this post, the Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES team sincerely hope that today’s message might assist you to be of help to friends of yours who may be hurting. We also pray that today’s message may help you to discover and enjoy a better life.
Today, may our loving Father in Heaven bless you with His grace, wisdom, peace, courage, and power in all He is leading you to do!
“Do kindly things for people, for nothing
Can so completely erase gloom and
Create new vigour as the practice
Of caring and goodwill.”
(Norman Vincent Peale - 1898-1993)
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HELPING PEOPLE FIND HOPE THROUGH SHARING GOD’S GRACE and LOVE
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