Friday, March 03, 2017

March 3, 2017 ... Sharing My Pain

Berry Patch Devotions in 2017 - Day 62 

Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Wayne Watson singing … Friend of a Wounded Heart … again … poignantly singing of how we have Someone who always cares and will always be there for us … our King Jesus, … Who ALWAYS meets us where we are.

 {Real EMPATHY IS ... "Been there, ... done that, ... 
know EXACTLY how you feel!"}

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Highlight Verse[s]: John 16:22 [NLT] … 
22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. 
… Jesus ALWAYS know how we feel.
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Highlight Passage [context]: John 16:19-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK
… Jesus had perfect empathy for the fears felt by His disciples in the upper room; and yet He also knew what they would feel after He was risen again.
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Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : … Hebrews 13:5  … USE THIS LINK ...
… We don’t have to fear before men because we worship a God Who will never leave, nor forsake us.

Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : …1st Peter 5:5-7  … USE THIS LINK
… When we humble ourselves before His throne of grace we come to One Who knows our pain and cares for our sorrows.

My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Tim Gustafson, taught about the essence of real empathy which was personified in the upper room when Jesus knew EXACTLY the fears and feelings of His remaining eleven disciples. The ODB author wrote: There’s something special about the comfort of others who have experienced our pain. They know. 
Just before Jesus’s arrest, He warned His disciples, “You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.” But in the next breath He comforted them: “You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy” (John 16:20). In mere hours, the disciples would be devastated by Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion. But their crushing grief soon turned to a joy they could not have imagined when they saw Him alive again. 

When someone goes through something painful, we might be able to “sympathize” with their pain; but only someone who’s been thru what we’re going through can truly “empathize” with our pain. That’s why, no matter what we’re going thru or feeling, Jesus knows what it is. He has felt it; and He will always care for us like no other.

Once again today, as in my blog for yesterday, I link readers to hear the lyrics and feel the emotions in Wayne Watson’s poignant song; and then to know that anytime we bring our cares to our Savior in prayer, He’s there for us, cares for us, and will feel our pain like no other.

Perhaps readers here are feeling some kind of pain, or loss, or anguish today. If so, take them to our God, Who always cares for us.

My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, again today, I bring my cares to You because You know perfectly my feelings, andYou care for me. … Amen

Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.

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