2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
A few days ago I received a get well card. When I saw the name on the return address, my mind flew back many years ago. I was teaching a Sunday school class of young professional men and women. We had been spending a considerable amount of time on thanking God for every circumstance in our life when this young woman raised her hand to ask a question that has rattled my cage ever since: “Have you ever experienced the beauty of pain?”
She explained that she had fallen while riding her bike on the way to work. The pain was intense and, as she looked down at her knee, blood was flowing freely. She was almost ready to cry when she thought of what I had been teaching in that class. Immediately she thanked God for the circumstance even though she had no idea why she would pray something like this.
Immediately after her prayer an amazing thing took place. It was as if all the members of her body were speaking to each other. They were calling out to be very careful since one of the members was injured. The other leg took most of the strain, but the arms and the torso also tried to ease the injured member of her body.
After all these years I feel that this young woman accomplished far more by her illustration than my weeks of teaching had accomplished. The thought occurs to me that there are many injured members in our body. Rather than ignore them, we need to make every effort to ease their load.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil