Don’t misunderstand. I do not believe we must experience everything everyone else does in order to legitimately minister to them. The truth of God’s Word penetrates the soul and comforts the heart with or without a servant to deliver it. However, it is gracious of the Lord and immensely helpful to us when we do receive God’s comfort from someone whose heart oozes the empathy of biblical compassion, which draws attention to the fact that every believer in Christ is a “comforter-in-training.” So, let me encourage you with some biblical principles that have been simmering on the back burner of my mind. They come from two passages of Scripture.

In this passage, I see three incredible truths that apply to our current situation.

· All things, even bad things, are used by God to produce good in the lives of believers. Therefore, as believers in Jesus Christ, we know without a doubt that God is working out His good purpose in our life right at this moment, even if we cannot yet see it.

· It is GOD that causes all things to work toward our good. It is not merely a “things will work out in the end,” or a passive “whatever is meant to be is meant to be” kind of fatalism. But God is actively at work in our life right now.

· The ultimate “good” that God is working all things in our life toward is His goal of shaping us into the image of Christ. Everything that God puts into our lives is for the ultimate purpose of His glory and our good. And the best “good” for us is that we become more like Jesus. Therefore, one of the most helpful questions we can be asking right now is, “Lord, how can I become more like Christ because of this trial?”

In this passage, I see five more principles that encourage our growth in Christ during and after our time of suffering.

• Grace and peace come only from God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace in time of need, and inner peace that enables us to reflect Christ in our time of trial, are two of the infinite resources that are ours in Jesus Christ. “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
• God is the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” That is, He sees us in our present suffering through His eyes of mercy and is ready to dispense divine comfort at every moment we need it. Indeed, He “comforts us in all our affliction.”
• Suffering expands our ministry. One very significant reason God comforts us in our affliction is “so that we may be able to comfort” others who are experiencing trials. This truth has greatly encouraged my wife and me when we struggled with the news of our last two daughters’ deafness and now through this miscarriage. We often wonder who God will put into our lives as a result of the trials we experience. There is no doubt in my mind that God is right now equipping us for future opportunities when others are hurting. What a joy it will be to be used by God in that way. We are “comforters-in-training.”
• Suffering authenticates our ministry. Not only does affliction open the door to reaching more people with the hope of the Gospel, but it makes our own message of comfort more real to them, more believable. We comfort others “with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” In other words, like a relay race, we pass on to the next sufferer the same comfort that God has given to us.
• Both suffering and comfort are abundant in the God-centered life. Like Job asked his grieving wife, we must say with contentment, “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10). Surely we must accept both.

These biblical principles apply not only to the trial of miscarriage, but to all kinds of suffering. What kind of suffering are you presently enduring? What is your current struggle? Meditate on the above truths and let God use your pain to produce fruit for His glory. As you submit to His lordship in the midst of your painful trial you will be equipped by grace to serve others more effectively.

Being equipped by His grace for His glory,

Pastor Paul