Because You Never Know What Someone is Going Through

I’ve gone through the wringer this year, which has resulted in almost a perpetual state of brokenness and feeling like I’m in survival mode.

This brokenness has given me a greater awareness of what others may be going through.

There is so much brokenness in our world today. The truth is, you don’t know what that co-worker in your office or that cashier at Target is going through. They might be going through:

• A heart-wrenching divorce and battling for custody of their children
• The unexpected death of a loved one
• The grief of a miscarriage

The list goes on and on. Emotional intelligence and empathy are needed more than ever in this world. We need to be sensitive to the needs of those around us. But even more than we need Emotional Intelligence or empathy, we need compassion for a hurting world.

We can always look to Jesus as our example of how to love. When I think about Jesus loving someone who was going through something, I think about Peter. Remember when Jesus was about to die on a cross, and Peter denied Him three times? If I were Jesus, I would have completely written off my friendship with Peter. After all, the struggle Jesus was going through was much bigger in the scope of things than what Peter was experiencing. Jesus was facing a torturous death; Peter was facing fear of what people thought of him.

And yet, after His resurrection, Jesus took the time to restore His friendship with Peter in John 21. He asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” When someone asks you something once, you might give a fake answer. When they ask you twice, you might tell them how you really feel. But if they ask you three times, you know they mean business and you’d better get real.

Jesus could have abandoned Peter’s friendship and been just fine. But He took the time to restore that relationship, because He knew that at the time when Peter denied Him, he was going through something. Peter wasn’t emotionally prepared to publicly declare his love and commitment to Christ before His crucifixion, but he was most certainly ready to do so now. And Peter would go on to prove this love, as he would eventually endure martyrdom through upside-down crucifixion.

Extend grace. Extend compassion. Extend love. Those times when you’ve been hurting and someone has offered you a hug, or a home-cooked meal, or simply waved you into traffic when you would have had to wait five more minutes, hasn’t it felt like salve to your soul?

You can be the one who refreshes someone today. You can be the salve to someone’s hurting soul.

Give someone else mercy. Give them love. Give them grace. You may not know if they need it or not, but I guarantee you … they do. 100% of the time.