This post is part of the series His Encouragement
Other posts in this series:
A cheery and warm welcome, dearest friends, to His Encouragement: Biblical Inspiration for Your Thursday. Every Thursday, a few blogging friends and I will each bring you a Bible verse and a little hope-filled discussion. We pray that these Thursday posts help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you. We also welcome you to join the conversation by commenting with your thoughts. God bless!
Today’s Thursday Encouragement
“Praised be God, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, compassionate Father, God of all encouragement and comfort; who encourages us in all our trials, so that we can encourage others in whatever trials they may be undergoing with the encouragement we ourselves have received from God.” — 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, CJB
This last month has been challenging and the last few days have been especially hard, mostly due to lack of sleep but also a few other stressful circumstances have contributed. Perhaps you, too, have been having a rough go of it lately or maybe you have experienced such a time in your past.
It can be difficult when we are in the midst of our trials to see the bright side of things, but we should never forget that our God is a God of encouragement and comfort. We can always turn to Him!
When I am troubled, I find comfort in the passage of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. Not only does it remind us of God love for us, but it also encourages us to use our experiences, our trials, to help others who might be going through a similar challenge or trial.
Did you know that shifting your focus away from yourself and on to others helps your brain to break the cycle of negativity? I am not saying you should not think about your situation or give yourself the care that you need, but sometimes we can find ourselves dwelling too much on the negative aspects of whatever circumstance we find ourselves in.
If we constantly dwell on the bad things, soon our minds will only notice the bad things and all good things and blessings will be lost sight of, forgotten, ignored. By praising God for all of his mercies and blessings, even in the darkest of times, we make a choice to not become obsessed with the bad things.
So praise the Lord for all of the blessings He has poured out upon you and find a way to use your trials to bless and comfort someone else.
Now it is your turn! What verse or passage is blessing you today?
Be sure to also visit my fellow bloggers and read their encouragement for your Thursday:
Continue reading this series:
His Encouragement: Rock of refuge
I love your post today. I, too, have had a rough time. Your point about taking the focus off ourselves and putting it on God is spot on. I’ve got to do that better!!! I will keep you in my prayers. 😊
Amen! I love this. I am amazed at how much God really loves us and wants us to rely on Him!