Don't Waste Your Pain

“You don’t have to be alone in your hurt! Comfort is yours. Joy is an option. And it’s all been made possible by your Savior. He went without comfort so you might have it. He postponed joy so you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so you might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow.” - Joni Eareckson Tada

Our daughter, Catie, died 29 years ago this week. We still miss her and wonder what life would be like if leukemia had not won its battle with that delightful nine-year-old.

We still have questions, but choose to trust God anyway.

A grieving dad recently shared that God used something I wrote more than 20 years ago to bring comfort and peace to his hurting heart.

Over the years, Cay and I have talked to dozens of grieving parents. Although it is always painful, we often hear that our conversations were helpful, and that God used our story and perspectives to encourage and comfort others.

Paul faced a great deal of pain in his life and understood God’s desire to use our excruciating experiences to help others. Paul wrote, “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 have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Don’t waste your pain. Reach out to those who are suffering and help them cling to the hope God provides.

Dan Bolin

President

Refueling in Flight Ministries, Inc