which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3–4). It relates one of the classic strategies of the Most High, who uses His children who have endured difficulty to become a strength to others experiencing the same trial. It is the divine reminder that we comfort others not from the foundation of our superior faith but from the commonality of our mutual struggles. The following week I brought one of the most hopeful sermons of my 40 years of pastoral preaching, “Discerning and Dealing with Fears,”