In the Meantime (6) – Comfort Zone

Welcome to CROLCC, we are so glad you are here worshiping with us. I have been walking and learning alongside you during our series In the Meantime. Thank you for all your stories and your positive and faithful respond to God in the midst of your in the meantime moments. Your responds to God encourages me as I too deal with my own in the meantime moments. Thank you for creating a church environment alongside me so that we can all experience God’s faithfulness together. Thank you for being real and authentic. Thank you for the opportunity to struggle together and to celebrate together.

When we’re in the midst of pain and suffering, it can feel like we’ll never be happy again, nothing good can come from our circumstances, and there’s no reason to continue living. But those are lies. God can redeem, use, and work through our pain. And when he does, we eventually have the opportunity to comfort others. There is a “Fellowship of Suffering.” So today as we conclude this series, if you have suffered in any area of your lives, remember that you are also uniquely equipped and qualified to comfort people who are suffering.

Moving Forward

So what do you do when there’s nothing you can do? You don’t have to give in to the tidal wave of emotion. You can be happy again. Something good can come from this. There is a reason to continue living. Comfort those who need comforting with the comfort you have received. If you’ve been there, you’re uniquely qualified to comfort those who are still there. This will bring purpose to your pain and bring life to your soul.

Changing Your Mind

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 receive from God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Discussion Questions

1. Do you tend to learn from the wisdom of others or from your own mistakes? How has that tendency increased or decreased suffering and adversity in your life?

2. Talk about a time when you were comforted by someone who had experienced circumstances similar to your own. How did you benefit from that person’s perspective?

3. Read 2 Corinthians 1:3–7. What is the connection between praising God in the midst of suffering and being able to comfort others? Does that connection sound too good to be true? Why or why not?

4. Have you ever had the opportunity to comfort someone because you’d experienced something similar to what he or she was going through? If so, how was that experience life-giving for that person? How was it life-giving for you?

5. What can you do to begin to receive your adversity as a gift from God and leverage that gift to comfort others? How can this group help you and support you as you take the next step?