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“Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 5:14). In so doing, the church of our Lord is the finest “support group” on the face of the earth!<\/p>\nPerhaps you know someone who is agonizing through one crisis after another. Such a one may even despair of life. What he\/she doesn’t need is another critic telling him\/her to “straighten up” or be in great danger of Hellfire. Such a one needs comfort, help, and assistance of some kind. Take such a one in your arms and give the uplift so desperately needed. Take up his\/her cross and help that it might be borne through life’s difficulties. Remember this: when someone says they wish they were dead, they are really saying, “I wish you would help!”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Floyd Chappalear via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 31, 1987 “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all” (I Thessalonians 5:14). In so doing, the church of our Lord is the finest “support group” on the face of the earth!…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[359,398,182,39],"class_list":["post-84599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-comfort","tag-despair","tag-suffering","tag-suicide"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45666,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-dont-understand-the-depth-of-despair-transgenders-go-through\/","url_meta":{"origin":84599,"position":0},"title":"You don’t understand the depth of despair transgenders go through","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir (must be), Your\u00a0answer\u00a0is very condescending and full of your own opinions. God will undoubtedly judge you for this, also. Do you know the depths of despair that this person may have gone through just to get to the point where they are willing to ask someone a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55600,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/comfort-for-the-depressed\/","url_meta":{"origin":84599,"position":1},"title":"Comfort for the Depressed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Johnny Felker In II Corinthians 1, Paul discusses what must have been one of the lowest points in his life, a time filled with deep feelings of anxiety and despair. He reports that in Asia he was \"burdened excessively, beyond... strength\" so that he \"despaired even of life\", having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/11\/depressed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16156,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-i-say-to-people-who-are-suffering-great-grief\/","url_meta":{"origin":84599,"position":2},"title":"What do I say to people who are suffering great grief?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do I say to people who are suffering great grief? Answer: Much of what you or I would like to say seems so empty or inadequate. How do you tell someone who has just lost a child you know how she feels when you haven't experienced such grief?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26140,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/to-the-depressed-or-anxious-who-are-on-medication\/","url_meta":{"origin":84599,"position":3},"title":"To the Depressed or Anxious Who Are on Medication","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Douglas Groothuis To those who are depressed or anxious and on medications for it or for those who are considering medication: Christians often consider the use of medications for depression or anxiety a spiritual failure. I know of a Christian man who has been depressed for at least thirty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/depression-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21083,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-tell-a-friend-that-benny-hinn-cannot-heal-her-blind-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":84599,"position":4},"title":"How do I tell a friend that Benny Hinn cannot heal her blind child?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know a person who has a blind child.\u00a0 This person wants to take her child to Benny Hinn because she believes her son will be healed through him.\u00a0 I know this is not true, but I need Scripture to back it up.\u00a0 I feel so bad for her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-help-someone-who-is-being-abused-but-who-doesnt-want-help\/","url_meta":{"origin":84599,"position":5},"title":"How do you help someone who is being abused, but who doesn’t want help?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can I help someone who is being physically abused when they don't want to be helped? I tried calling the cops in the past before with a former neighbor of mine. This woman was abused by her husband every day for over two years and acted as if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}