Dear Amy,

Knowing that our God is the God of all comfort and healing, how can we minister this to the brokenhearted?

It is hard to write about such things when grief and loss are present and quite so raw. But it is precisely at such a time that we must engage with the Lord, and seek to understand, if he is the God of all comfort and healing, which he is, how is that outworked at such a time?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 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.

― 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

At such times we are supposed to be able to comfort those in need with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. But how often do we seem to be of no use in this, not knowing even what to say or do? In the weeping face of heartbreak, how can we in fact be of any comfort at all?

I have recently been gaining some experience in this, as I am continuing to care for a young friend, a believer in Christ, in the midst of his own trauma, which is ongoing, heartbreaking, and bewildering. In the face of this overwhelming need, the Lord has given me such clarity of understanding of what my friend needs from me, and it is not advice nor explanation nor anything else that I have to say. It is simply Jesus.

It does not matter that I do not know what to say or do. Jesus does. So we cry out to him together for mercy. And he responds, with grace and kindness, impossibly and lavishly. The peace that has come surpasses understanding. The need is ongoing, but so is the grace, and so is the rescue.

Our own comfort is in Jesus and it is Jesus, and so this is what we must minister to others.

So what does it look like, to minister Jesus to the brokenhearted? It looks like gentleness, and kindness, and listening, and prayer, and probably a hug, but most especially time⸺more time than 21st Century western civilization would think is a reasonable investment for a single individual. Not much speaking though. This may come later, but is not I think where we are called to start. And above all else, absolute confidence in the one who is mighty to save, whose name is Helper, Comforter, Healer, Lord, whose name is Jesus. The one who, astonishingly, chooses to do his work of grace through us.

Let us remind ourselves why we praise him.

Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for he is beautiful, and a song of praise is fitting.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

― Psalm 147:1, 3

And in this, Jesus does what we cannot.

Look to Jesus, Amy, the source of all comfort and the source of all healing! 🙏