No doubt you’ve heard it said, “Hurt people hurt people”. While that is often true, it is also true that sometimes hurt people help people. They, in fact, are the best helpers. They use their misery as a ministry. Having been comforted they want to comfort. Paul is a good example of this. Although he had been hurt he hoped to help those who were hurting. He wanted them to experience what he had experienced. The point is that sometimes our heaviest burdens become our happiest blessings.
From Paul’s story we are reminded that, while life is difficult, God is able to sustain us. Although many things are against us God is for us. Because of that we can have courage in a crisis, comfort in calamity. God enables us to succeed rather than fail. But that’s not the end of the story. God is willing and able to comfort us, but He also wants us to comfort others.
Life is difficult for everyone, and extremely so for some. Many of them will never tell you about their problems or even complain, yet they carry a heavy burden or harbor a fear that weighs heavily on them. God wants to use you to help them find confidence, comfort, and courage so that they might carry on. You know from experience what God can do, now use your suffering to serve others.—HDS
