Today's daily devotion

Comforting Others

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God.—2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-4 (NIV)

I worked with a woman whose daughter suffered from a condition that was painful and difficult to treat. I asked her from time to time how her daughter was doing. Her replies were brief, and she always told me that nothing had changed.

Then my husband became ill. He suffered with a high level of pain and the specialists struggled to determine his treatment.

A couple of months later, this woman and I crossed paths at work and I inquired after her daughter. After her brief response, I asked how she herself was holding up with the stress. She began to open up after learning of the struggle I was going through.

I kept thinking about our conversation. What had changed? I believe that because I had God’s comfort during my own difficulties, I was able to comfort her. For the first time, I felt like God could make something good out of my family’s troubles.