June 10
Scripture: 2 Cor 1:4
Source author: Mary Kay Moody
June 10
Room for One More He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. . . . —2 Corinthians 1:4
I was deeply depressed as a teen. Both my parents worked late into the night; I baby-sat my toddler brother and endured abuse from an older brother; and my sister, the sunshine in my life, married and moved away. I often contemplated suicide and attempted it twice. My salvation through those years was Edith, a friend’s fun-loving mother who “adopted” me and showered me with affection. She is undoubtedly one of the gifts God planted in my life even before I knew He loved me. Years later, my sixteen-year-old son told me about a friend who’d been assaulted and continually threatened by a male relative. Besides that, excruciating back pain plagued her, and her family wouldn’t get her medical attention. When he asked, “Can she come here?” I remembered Edith. While my brain said, No way we can manage that, I knew the power a caring surrogate could exert. So I said yes. While her time with us was measured in weeks, not years, we gave her a chance at healing and helped her family through a tough decision-making process.
God cloaks us with His love so we’re able to offer the same to others. — Mary Kay Moody —