Trials give us experience so we can help others

In every trial of my life God has reminded me that once I "grow" through it I will be able to use the experience to help somebody else who is going through the same thing. God doesn't always keep me involved in the same thing day after day. God knows how much we can bear and when we need to drop things for a while and when we need to pick them up again. I have been guilty of being the "Levite who passed on the other side of the road when someone was bruised and cast aside" as in the story of the Good Samaritan. Since I have been on the receiving end of that same experience God has given me opportunity after opportunity of fellowshipping and reaching out to those who are in the same position. God knows that there are long periods of time when I lay these issues aside. He gives me a breath of fresh air away from it. Then there are times when I come face to face with someone who is still hurting. We share our stories and my indignation is brought to the surface again with what has gone on... and we rejoice in the freedom God has given us to walk in ways that he has shown us.