Fw: strength we don't have

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2017 7:24 AM
Subject: strength we don't have

Sometimes we need strength that we just don't have.  There is a great word that talks about this.  The word is "comfort".  You see the smaller word "fort" inside and get a clue about the strength and protection that this word means.  We can come alongside others and transfer strength to them.  But first we need the One who is truly strong to come alongside of us and transfer strength from Heaven.  In our distresses we can feel truly alone, defeated and deflated.  We don't have strength to climb out of the crater we find ourselves in sometimes.  Our very weakness can make the effort to climb up and out overwhelming.  The issues that may have led to us collapsing may have caused us to doubt whether we can climb up and out.  But there are others whom the Lord has helped in similar situations.  They can relate personally because they have been brought low in similar circumstances and then experienced the Lord's strength to lift them up and out.  As we consider the various ways that we rub shoulders and connect with other people, comfort must be one of the most wonderful of them all.  It brings us together in the intimacy of suffering and draws us both to God, who shows up in our lives so that we can show up in each other's.

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2 Corinthians 1:³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

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blessings and comfort,

Rob Smith