I need a little comfort here

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NLT
Did you ever stop to consider the present is preparation for the future - what you go through now is actually going to be the platform from which you can actually bring comfort into the lives of others going through similar circumstances to what you are now living through? With God, there is no "wastage". He uses each circumstance to bring untold lessons into our lives, and then into the lives of others who are either directly or indirectly touched by our lives. God uses "multiplied grace" to reach a world hurting beyond measure - all because he can use our lives as platform from which that grace can be declared and shared!
Comfort comes most frequently in this sense of being made strong, often in ways that are far outside of our realm of "strength". With the renewing of our strength, there comes a hope. Strength and hope go hand in hand. Rarely do we see them standing alone - they are "soul-buddies". As a mother, I often rocked, jiggled, swayed, bounced, and patted all while drawing my little ones near to my heart. Notice those words, my friends. They are actions - the thing that brought comfort to my kiddos in those wee hours of the morning when they were frightened by the darkness, or when they fell down and bunged a knee weren't just my words - they were my actions.
In much the same way, God doesn't just bring comfort to us by telling us all things will be okay. He shows us they will be okay by helping us to experience his strength - renewed time and time again - not by inaction, but through action. Most know that inaction actually weakens a body. Action increases strength, even though it places demands upon the body and the body tires a bit by the action. Our hope grows best in an environment where action also is evident. It is not us taking action hoping God will bless it, but taking the action he declares to be right and feeling his comfort as we do so! 
I can remember my science teacher telling us that every action results in a reaction of some kind. One ball hits another and the other balls in sequence begin to move. One domino tips over into the other and it starts a chain reaction. One drop of water falls into a huge pool of water and it starts a ripple effect that goes way beyond the "mass" of the first drop that fell. The idea is that one thing affects the other - it sets things in motion that otherwise were not in motion. Sometimes the greatest thing God does for us in his giving us "comfort" in our times of trouble is to create a ripple effect of his grace - where things are set in motion simply because we began to receive of his strength - even the smallest of movement "with him" sets in motion movement beyond our wildest imagination! Just sayin!

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