Bad news. Good news. Or both?

I feel a little badly about saying this to you. Even just for thinking it, really.

But I don’t feel so badly that I won’t say it. I’ve been tracking the career of an author with some 10+ Lifeway-published book titles to her name and a prolific speaking calendar. Her trajectory is one that I admittedly envy. (I’m not proud of that, but there you have it.)

Today, in my inbox, I received notice that her next big event was cancelled. Cancelled. The reason? Lack of interest and registration. Not enough attendees to justify putting on the event.

So, here’s the part I feel badly about: I felt encouraged by that news. Not because I wished her ill. I’m certainly not delighting in what probably feels discouraging to her and her team of event planners. No, I was encouraged because knowing that someone of her stature in the female Christian speaking community has bumps in her ministry reminded me that it’s okay to have bumps in my own. I don’t (and won’t) know this woman, but a frustration in her life — one she aired publicly — was helpful to me.

A similar benefit springs from rich community and fellowship in the Body of Christ. When we can share our struggles and challenges with candor and vulnerability, we minister to one another. Sometimes it’s merely the knowledge that we’re not alone… not the only one. Sometimes we are able to speak directly into the painful places of others with stories of God’s faithfulness in a past circumstances of our own — thereby allowing Him to redeem those experiences. In either case, we are reminded that we will have trouble in this life (John 16:33).

And that facing them together is a gift from God, delivered tenderly through the Church.

How about you? Are you encouraged by the solidarity that comes from candid exchanges amongst friends? How do you keep yourself from a ‘misery loves company’ pity party?

Stay tuned for some exciting news in the next couple of weeks;
the blog will take a new shape this fall and I hope to have you along
for the journey!