Vital signs- Monday,August 3rd, 2020

When You Face Trouble, Community Is Your Safety Net

When you experience suffering in life, you need people to weep with you.

There are situations that nobody should ever have to go through alone. Nobody should ever have to wait alone in the hospital while a loved one is in a life-and-death surgery. No woman should ever have to wait alone for the lab report on a problem pregnancy. Nobody should have to wait alone for news from a battlefield. Nobody should have to stand alone at the edge of an open grave. Nobody should have to spend the first night alone after a spouse has died or walked out.

The fact is, some of these things are going to happen to you. They’re inevitable. You’re going to go through tragedy. You’re going to get bad news. You’re going to experience heartache. Only a fool would go through life totally unprepared for something that you know is going to happen. The time to build the safety net — the network of supporters and friends — is now.

What is God’s safety net? It is a group of other believers who are committed to you.

Here’s God’s plan: “Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15 TEV).

Community is God’s answer to despair. You were made to share your life with others! Now is the time to find the people who will support you through life, who will rejoice with you in your victories and weep with you in your trouble.