Breathe: A 6-Day Plan to Transform Chaos to CalmSample

Day 5: Social Wellness

Everything hard you are going through isn’t wasted. The suffering you are enduring will be a loving bridge to others who need to experience God’s peace and comfort in times of trouble. But here’s the catch. To offer others the comfort of friendship, we must receive it first ourselves.

“[God] 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 1:4 NLT).

Notice the priority of comfort: You can only offer comfort to others with the comfort you first receive yourself. That’s the way God designed relationships; if we prioritize time for friendships, we can receive the nurture that will flow from others.

Breathe in Truth: You Are Worthy of Friendship

When you’re stressed, one of the first things you’ll be tempted to delete from your schedule is spending time with friends. Maybe you’re used to being the encourager, but you doubt if others would be there for you if you shared your burdens or honest feelings. Maybe you have been hurt by people who let you down or deserted you.

You might be tempted to think: It’s not worth the risk. I’ll get along fine. But God created us to need each other.

Even Jesus needed friends. On the hard night Jesus spent in Gethsemane, He could have gone off to pray by Himself as He often did. Instead, Jesus chose a small number of His closest friends and allowed them to see Him fall on His face and cry:

“Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane…He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John] along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me’” (Matthew 26:36-38).

When you miss the comforting smile of a friend, ask God to guide one of three types of friends to cross your path.

First, someone to laugh and swap stories with, who is walking through a similar season.

Second, someone walking just a little ahead who can encourage and mentor you.

Third, someone a little younger whom you can encourage and mentor.

“A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

Ask the Holy Spirt to illuminate your mind and nurture the power of three friends in your life, because a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Jesus tenderly whispers,

I see your longing for friendship as well as fears being hurt.

Don’t give up. I am with you.

I will help you because I’ve chosen you to bear fruit.

I chose you because you are my friend.

Together, we’ll find friends to share the journey. Share your story so a friend can share hers in return.

Scriptures for Day 5

1 Peter 1:22

John 15:15-16

Philemon 1:7