Ministering To Others In the Midst of Our Strife

29 Jul 2011 6 Comments

by Rest Ministries in Devotionals2 Tags: Christ, chronic pain, God, Jesus, Ohio, Passion, Psalms, Second Epistle to the Corinthians

“Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble.” (Psalm 41:1)

How can we who are afflicted, disabled, in chronic pain and struggling with our ailments possibly be of any help to someone else? How can we minister to others with all of our own troubles? It is quite tempting to simply say that we cannot, we have enough problems of our own without taking on anymore. But I think
that we are more uniquely qualified to help others in ways that more energetic, healthy, physically fit people cannot.

There are various ways we can help. First we can empathize with others who are going through trials and afflictions because we have been in their shoes. We can honestly say that on some level we do understand what it is to be tried and tested, as we have been in our own afflictions.

We can also give them the Good News that God is helping us to endure and overcome and continues to help us overcome on a daily basis. Just as God has helped us, He will help others.

We can share specific things we have learned through our trials. Some people are just beginning the process of getting disability benefits, those familiar with this process can help them. Others whom have been divorced from their marriage partners, quite often due to their disability can help them.

There is really no limit to the ways we can help each other, whatever you are going through, you can be sure some saint of God has been there before.

Prayer: Lord God help us to help others, even as You have come to our aid time and time again.

“Praise be to 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 have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” (2 Corinthians 1: 3-5)

About the Author:
Karlton Douglas lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter. Chronic fatigue syndrome has been histhorn in the flesh for more than a decade, but God has been there to help him throughout his affliction.

Note: We are repeating some of our favorite devotionals this week from past years. This was originally written by Karlton in 2001.

You can now read this on your Kindle. Find out more at http://TodaysDevotionOnKindle.com

What ways have you discovered you can reach out to people now that you better understand pain, then before you lived with a chronic illness?

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