Example

Example

All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

When my friend Marty was dying of cancer and had only a month to live, she gave me a copy of the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller. When I read the book, I realized why Marty had been so encouraged by the author. His wife had been sick with cancer for two years before she died, and he wrote not as an example of a life untouched by difficulty, but rather as an example of one who had walked through pain and loss himself.

He wrote that during his wife’s illness and even after her death, he was amazed at the strength and solace that God’s Spirit graciously brought to his life. In the process of going through his own dark valley with God’s help, he was being prepared to minister to others.

If you’ve gone through a valley in the past and have experienced God’s comfort, you will readily identify with the author. If you’re presently going through a valley, pray and ask God to send you comfort in ways that only he can orchestrate. And then don’t be surprised if—at some point down the road—he uses you to bring comfort to someone else in the valley.

Keller writes, “Only those who have been through such dark valleys can console, comfort or encourage others in similar situations.”^a

Do we want the valleys? No! But when we experience God’s faithfulness and comfort even in the valleys, we can be living examples of that to others.

God even in the valleys,

Thank you that as we experience troubles, you are faithful to give us your comfort and compassion. Thank you that when we have received it and experienced it ourselves, we can comfort others with the comfort we received from you. Amen.