There is no telling what difference in eternity the encouraging note of a friend may make. There is telling, that in the present moment, it makes a huge impact! A little note I received today from a friend, referencing the eleventh chapter of John, ministered much comfort to me. I pass along the gift of her encouragement.
We certainly yearn to understand times of hardship. Not unlike our strivings for answers, comfort and healing, in John 11, Martha and Mary send the questioning words to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
The words of Our Lord to these two sisters, speak as ever much to our condition as to the dead state of Lazarus, "This [trial] is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified thereby."