Category Archives: STEPPING STONES Series (Devotions for the Hurting)

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Regaining Spiritual Health

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REGAINING SPIRITUAL HEALTH | HELP FOR THE HURTING

Stepping Stones Devotional

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7
♥

A person’s spiritual health must regain its balance in the aftermath of broken relationships. It is an untidy business. One has to navigate through a complicated maze of thoughts and feelings to sort out what is true and what is not true about ourselves, about the other person, and about other contributing factors. Getting past self-pity and stinking-thinking is needful for a healthier spiritual self.

The microscope of God is uncomfortable but necessary for a Spirit-led recovery. Many people prefer to not go there. They wear blinders and put up a facade, a pretense that says I’m okay while exhibiting a false image, a projection of wholeness, a pretending. It soon derails. The deadness will remain. Life will dry up. If the person doesn’t deal with it, they are at risk of history repeating itself or continual complications from unhealed hurts.
What to do?

A person’s pain has a way of numbing reactions, circumventing the ability to move forward. A person can get lost in the hurt. There are times when loss is so devastating that we feel totally upended, unable to carry on. All we can do is cry out to God. That is where it starts. It is in this that we quit doing it our way. We can’t do it.
But God can.

It is essential to release our needs and desires to God. This is necessary that we may access his healing grace and divine intervention. Lifting our prayers in openness and brokenness is a process that God uses to unfold a greater master plan for our lives. God knows what we need—and he will provide. He is in the business of binding wounds and healing hearts.
God doesn’t waste anything.

A stronger Spirit life is something we receive as we draw from the deep well of God. He has resources to help us restore, renew and revitalize. In making something new out of something broken, God gives us helpers. He gives us friends and mentors to guide and encourage us, scripture and writings to teach and illuminate our minds, prayer and meditation to comfort and console our hearts. He uses all of these to transform our life into a masterpiece of rare beauty.
Trust God to do this for you.

Dear Father God, when I am weak you are strong. I ask for strength to carry on and the courage to move forward.
♥

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Finding and Giving Comfort

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FINDING AND GIVING COMFORT – HOPE FOR THE HURTING

Stepping Stones Devotional

That we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction,
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3,4
♥

We call this phenomenon ‘Beauty from Ashes.’

Comfort makes me think of soft blankets, hot cocoa, and a good book. Comfort foods are those delights which make of us think of hearth and home, a peaceful, safe place where all is right in the world. Comfort in the context of giving care is a delight of another kind. This form of comfort extends love and empathy by coming along side the other person to give support in any way it can.
How so?

Comforting others is unscripted action. It may be listening on the phone to someone under stress, or sending encouraging notes to bring cheer, or delivering flowers at just the right time by responding with immediacy when the crisis occurs.  All of these are ways we make contact with people who are in need of comfort. They speak easy, to say, I care.

In the midst of severe trials or life-changing afflictions it may seem hard to believe that the area of sadness we are now experiencing may one day be used to help another person. The misfortunes which have been the hardest for us often provide opportunities to connect with other people undergoing similar circumstances. We know what they are feeling and we have earned the right to be heard. They will listen to us because we have been there, walked a mile in their shoes. There are many descriptors of this phenomenon: beauty from ashes, joy comes in the morning, the sun will rise again. Each phrase contains a measure of hope something to encourage a person’s thoughts when the day is dark and sorrow has gripped the heart.

God intends for us to respond by reaching out to him. This is especially true when we find ourselves buried in an avalanche of despair–the sun lost to us and far away–the day dark and miserable. Trust is learned in this place. Faith increases as we yield to God. In all of these things there is a divine purpose, one we cannot fully comprehend at the time but nevertheless will come to fruition. The inner changes we make during the long-suffering will stay with us forevermore.
Be comforted and then comfort one another.

Dear Father God, the days are long, full of suffering and pain. Use these days to teach me that I may one day use this as an opportunity to comfort someone else in need.
♥