Growing in Faith During Your Baby's First Year - a 6 Day DevotionalSample

Hard-Won Comfort Paul wrote to the church in Corinth his praise to the God of compassion “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 1:4 NIV). It is a beautiful sentiment, but it is easy to gloss over how hard-won this comfort He offers is. Paul wrote, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself” (v. 8 NIV). This is comfort gained amid life’s harshest difficulties. Notice: God did not prevent their hardships. He was with them in the midst . Sometimes I don’t want God the Deliverer. I want God the Preventer. I want the “Get out of jail free” card, not the “God will be with me in the midst of jail” card. But God often works this way. He didn’t prevent the fiery furnace; He was in it. He didn’t stop the tempest before it ever started for the disciples, but He was on the boat when the waves were crashing. In some ways, motherhood feels like this line from Paul: “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability.” Maybe you feel that way some days too. How good to know that while God may not deliver us from that feeling, He is there in the midst of the pressure, in the midst of the difficulty. And He will use the hard-won comfort that you receive from Him in the midst of it to comfort someone else.