One of my most vivid memories of craving comfort was when I had my first child. I remember thinking to myself, I may never sleep or shower again! How could something so cute and so small scream so loudly, eat so much, and explode so many diapers? And how could this adult woman suddenly, overnight, become such an irritable, emotional mess? Those were challenging days as I learned how to be a mom and care for my new baby. I felt my neediness profoundly.
On my husband’s day off from work, he encouraged me to take a break in between feedings and do something that would refresh me. He knew I needed rest. But what I really craved was comfort: a sense of reassurance that I was going to make it and that this little guy I loved so much would one day sleep through the night.
So the next few times my husband had a day off from work, I left the house for that small window of time in between feedings. One week, I drove straight to Target and simply walked up and down the aisles, mostly in a sleep-deprived daze. The next week, I went to Sonic and got a soda, because there’s something comforting about that Sonic ice and a cold drink in the middle of the day. But my most regular haunt became the local bookstore. I’d go straight to the magazine aisle, grab the latest pop culture magazines, and sit in the cafe with a coffee, thumbing through the pages.
After a few weeks of this, I remember heading home from my outing, turning onto my street, and realizing I knew more about the latest celebrities and their marriages and divorces, but I had not truly rested.
I was looking for comfort, but I was looking in all the wrong places.
We’re made to seek comfort.
You may not have experienced this exact scenario, but you have likely lived through a difficult season that sent you searching for comfort.
We all seek comfort, consolation, assurance, and security. We want to know that everything is going to be OK, especially when we are suffering or life feels out of control. Seeking comfort is a natural human response to difficulty, and — this is important to note — it’s a response built into us by God. In other words, there is nothing wrong with seeking comfort. But as I learned in the early days of motherhood, it matters how and where we seek that comfort.
In 2 Corinthians 1:3, the apostle Paul tells us where comfort is found: “the God of all comfort.” We’re to go to God, because He is comfort, and He comforts us in all our afflictions. This word comfort means “reassurance, encouragement, or consolation.” To comfort is to alleviate or lessen grief, sorrow, or disappointment. This is what God does for us. He doesn’t always remove our afflictions, but through His presence with us, He alleviates or lessens the blows of our griefs, sorrows, and disappointments.
But God does so much more for us than simply soften the blows. This word comfort also means “to strengthen” or “to come alongside.” In other words, God comforts us not just with His presence but also with His power — the Holy Spirit indwelling every believer. We can think of God’s comfort as His power pushing from the inside out, empowering us to face what we’re facing, enabling us to do what in our own strength we cannot do, like enduring unwanted circumstances with courage and faith.
Sometimes when we experience deep affliction, people around us feel ill-equipped to respond or feel scared by our circumstances and, as a result, they disengage. They don’t know what to do or say, and their lack of response can actually add to our pain. But God’s constant presence and His promise that He won’t ever leave us are a balm. There’s nothing we endure apart from Him. There’s no affliction He’s not willing to enter. He’s not afraid of our suffering or impatient with our response to it. He’s not disgusted with our struggles or disengaged from them. In fact, Psalm 34:18 says that God is close to the brokenhearted. He’s like a first responder: He runs into the crisis. He runs toward those who are afflicted and in need and offers them comfort.
We’re meant to share comfort.
God comforts us so that we will be consoled and strengthened, but He also comforts us “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Cor. 1:4).
We’re given comfort we can then share with others. First, God shares Himself with us. We receive His comfort through His presence and His power. Then the “me” is meant to turn to a “we.” There is a corporate component to God’s ministry of comfort to us and through us — the ministry of the body of Christ, the church. We’re meant to bring the ministry of God’s comfort into the lives of our brothers and sisters.
That’s a tall task and may seem daunting. We don’t always know what to do or say or how to help those who are suffering, but thankfully we don’t enter the lives and adversity of others empty-handed. Paul says we go equipped with “the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (v. 4).
In other words, God may take us through something difficult, grow us through it or teach us something about Him through it, use it to develop our compassion and empathy muscles for others who are hurting, and then give us opportunities to come alongside others and comfort them with what we’ve experienced or learned. We don’t have to have magic words. We simply bring to them the truth or a reminder of the truth of God’s presence and power — the same comfort we received from God.
Where do we go for comfort?
Throughout 2 Corinthians 1, Paul testified that God’s comfort in his own afflictions and his intentionality to enter into the lives of others with that very comfort solidified his hope in God. He proclaimed that his hope was firm and unshaken, and he invited the Corinthian church to both receive and give God’s comfort so their hope would be solidified as well.
When we enter into the suffering of others with the comfort of God, it emboldens our own hope and comfort in Him. We discover that the comfort of God is real and applicable in any and every situation, and we discover the joy of entering into the adversity of others with such deep and profound comfort.
Let’s return, then, to our initial question: Where do we go for comfort?
God is the God of all comfort, and He comforts us with His presence and power, so we go to Him. We go to the Source. There is nothing wrong with Target or Sonic or coffee shops or lighthearted fun. But if we neglect turning to the Source of comfort when we’re needy, we will be endlessly restless. So go sit with Him and tell Him what you’re feeling and what you need.
God also comforts us in our afflictions through one another. With our ultimate trust and hope in God, we enter our faith community both as comforters and as recipients of comfort. We give what God has given us.
You’re invited to walk this pathway to joy.
This article originally appeared in the June 2025 edition of HomeLife Magazine.
ABOUT CHRISTINE HOOVER
Christine Hoover is a pastor’s wife and serves as the women’s ministry associate at The Austin Stone Community Church’s Northwest congregation in Austin, Texas. She hosts the Ministry Wives podcast and has authored six books, including her latest, You Are Not Forgotten. Christine is married to Kyle and has three boys.
More Than Enough Bible Study
In this 8-session, verse-by-verse study on 2 Corinthians, Christine Hoover guides you through one of Paul’s most personal letters to discover how God is the ultimate source of the strength and sufficiency you need. You’ll find that God gives you strength to go on—through troubles, disappointments, and temptations—and strength to go forth, equipping you to serve Him and compelling you to share the gospel. Weakness is not a disqualifier or a flaw in our design. In fact, God shows Himself most powerfully in and through our fragility and vulnerability. We’re called, then, not to work harder or to hide our weaknesses, but to call upon God’s infinite resources and rely on Him. Read an excerpt!
