Be a Comfort

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing. —1 Thessalonians 5:11

The memory of past hurts can provide a powerful platform for ministry to other hurting people.

We may be tempted to think how wonderful it would be if we could just forget all the pain, if we didn’t have to deal with all the memories. We might wish that God would just take His divine eraser and purge from our minds all those negative images of the past.

However, Scripture reminds us that affliction not only allows us to receive deep, rich comfort from God but gives us a basis from which to minister that comfort to others. What God has invested in us is not just for us.

Thank God, of course, that He mercifully chooses to keep some things eternally withdrawn from our memory banks. But thank Him, too, that He chooses to leave behind enough to make us useful in ministering to others.

If we could totally forget, we would too easily become self-absorbed and useless. And deep down, we know it.

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Choosing Forgiveness: Moving from Hurt to Hope ©2022 Revived Hearts Foundation

Scripture taken from The CSB