Ed Welch on how to help those who are suffering

One of the simplest and most profound things Ed Welch said in Issues in Biblical Counselling was this observation about a woman who had experienced intense suffering.

Every single person in our church said to her, ‘If you ever need anything, call me’, and every single person in our church meant it. Every single person in our church, whenever they were called, whatever the request was, they would have done it.

But she said, "You know, I’ve heard people say that, and I appreciated it, but I was never, ever, ever going to call anybody.

"There were, however, some people who wouldn’t say, 'If you ever need anything, call me.' They would just do stuff. They would bring a meal over, they would take the dog out for a walk, they would come and clean my house. They would babysit, and give me tickets to a show in town with a friend.

"They never said, 'What can we do', they sat around and contrived things to do.

"Those were my pastors."

image is from Pseudo Serious at flickr.com