Quotes about Support

Who helped you most? Most often they (suffering people) answer by describing a quiet, unassuming person. Someone who was there whenever needed, who listened more than talked, who didn't keep glancing down at a watch, who hugged and touched, and cried. In short, someone who was available, and came on the sufferer's terms and not their own.

We do not give up on the institution of family because of its imperfections-why give up on the church?

Today, if I had to answer the question "Where is God when it hurts?" in a single sentence, I would make that sentence another question: "Where is the church when it hurts?" We form the front line of God's response to the suffering world.

Wise companions learn to seek out the delicate balance between offering help and offering too much help.

simple availability is the most powerful force we can contribute to help calm the fears of others. Instinctively, I shrink back from people who are in pain.

Think too of all who suffer as if you shared their pain. HEBREWS 13:3

A healthy family builds up the weakest members while not tearing down the strong.

The role of the doctor, nurse, social worker, minister, or loving friend is simply this: to keep the nutcracker of circumstances from destroying, and to help the sufferer see that even the worst hardships open up the potential for growth and development.

Those who suffer rest their security not on things, which often cannot be enjoyed and may soon be taken away, but rather on people.

One of the most important things we can do for a suffering person is to restore a sense of meaning or significance to the experience.

The first step in helping a suffering person (or in accepting our own pain) is to acknowledge that pain is valid, and worthy of a sympathetic response.

Nothing else — no learned "how-to" program, no expensive gift — is worth more to the sufferer than the comfortable assurance of your physical presence.