5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: How to Comfort the Hurting | 5 Minutes with Jesus | May 26, 2026
- Because when somebody is suffering and in pain.
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- They don't
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- Even have the presence of mind to know how to ask for help.
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- But the gift of our presence matters.
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- I remember my friend sammy rodriguez saying to me once,
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- When a believer walks into a room,
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- The atmosphere should shift
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- Because of who is living inside of them.
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- I think that's true too.
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- When someone is suffering,
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- We can be the hands and feet of jesus.
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- Without saying a word, what we bring is
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- The presence of jesus with us.
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- Do you ever wonder
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- What to say when somebody's suffering?
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- I remember my mom telling me a story of something
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- That happened when she and my dad were just newly engaged.
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- They were visiting a church in glasgow, scotland,
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- At the invitation of a friend.
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- Well, that morning a woman stood up to give her testimony.
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- She said that a few days ago her child had
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- Gone to be with jesus, but she was just praising god
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- And thanking him for his goodness.
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- At the end of the service, my mom was visiting the restroom
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- When she heard that someone was crying in one of the cubicles.
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- So she passed.
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- She just waited for a moment to see
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- If she could do anything to help.
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- When the woman came out, she realized it was the lady
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- Who had been giving a testimony on the platform that morning.
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- My mom took her arms around her and hugged her.
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- And the woman said to her,
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- I've been told i have to be a good witness.
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- I can't show people
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- How much this hurts, for that would be a lack of faith.
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- Gosh, i wonder how we ever came
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- To the place of thinking that god wants us to pretend
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- That life doesn't hurt when it's unbearable?
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- Remember when christ was in the garden of gethsemane?
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- He did not pretend that
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- What was ahead of him was going to be easy.
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- Scripture makes it clear that he was in absolute agony.
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- I think at times we're afraid to bring our real emotions to
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- God because they feel they kind of feel too raw.
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- But pretending never breeds intimacy,
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- And that's what god wants.
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- And i think sometimes, too,
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- We avoid people who are suffering
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- Because we just don't know what to say.
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- We're so afraid that will say the wrong thing
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- That we often say nothing at all, and cross the street
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- So that we don't even have to bump into the person.
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- I remember my dear friend barbara johnson telling me that
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- When pain is the freshest words should be the fewest.
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- But that does not mean that we should not be in their lives.
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- What we can bring is the gift of our presence.
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- I remember spending time with some of the moms
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- Who lost their children in that devastatingly
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- Evil school shooting in columbine, colorado.
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- They knew that i was in town for a conference and asked
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- If it would be possible for us to spend a few moments together.
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- I will never forget that day.
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- The raw emotion, the pain, the questions.
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- But the thing i remember more than anything
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- Is some of the things that people had said to them.
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- I'm sure trying to be helpful.
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- And yet rubbing salt in a very recent wound.
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- Things like gasp!
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- God must have needed another angel in heaven.
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- Or everything happens for a reason.
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- One of the ladies told me that someone said to her,
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- You need to rejoice at the moment
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- Because your daughter is in heaven with jesus.
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- She said to me, i do rejoice
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- That my daughter is with jesus.
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- But i want her here with me.
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- One mom said that she felt judged for her morning,
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- As if it was a lack of faith.
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- So i asked these
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- Moms what was helpful.
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- One said that the most helpful thing
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- Was a friend who simply listened.
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- She didn't try to offer comforting words
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- Or paste the scripture onto her pain.
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- She simply sat with her
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- In her pain and listened.
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- When a friend of mine
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- Lost her daughter when she was just a year old,
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- Her small group at church, of which i was a part, determined
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- That rather than ask her what she needed,
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- We would just step in and take care
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- Of the things that we knew had to be taken care of.
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- So we cooked meals.
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- We did the laundry, helped clean the house.
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- Because when somebody is suffering and in pain.
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- They don't
- 00:04:46.943 --> 00:04:48.144
- Even have the presence of mind to know how to ask for help.
- 00:04:48.144 --> 00:04:51.114
- But the gift of our presence matters.
- 00:04:51.114 --> 00:04:54.984
- I remember my friend sammy rodriguez saying to me once,
- 00:04:54.984 --> 00:04:58.488
- When a believer walks into a room,
- 00:04:58.488 --> 00:05:01.124
- The atmosphere should shift
- 00:05:01.124 --> 00:05:02.692
- Because of who is living inside of them.
- 00:05:02.692 --> 00:05:05.928
- I think that's true too.
- 00:05:06.429 --> 00:05:08.030
- When someone is suffering,
- 00:05:08.030 --> 00:05:09.932
- We can be the hands and feet of jesus.
- 00:05:09.932 --> 00:05:12.902
- Without saying a word, what we bring
- 00:05:12.902 --> 00:05:16.072
- Is the presence of jesus with us.
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- And romans chapter 12, verse 15, we read this.
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- Be happy with those who are happy,
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- And weep with those who weep.
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- Let's pray.
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- Lord,
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- Thank you so much that through your word
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- You instruct us in all areas of life.
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- Lord, teach us how to be better companions.
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- When someone is suffering
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- So often we feel obliged to say the right thing.
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- But when someone's in great pain,
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- There is no right thing to say.
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- But we can bring with us
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- Through your holy spirit the gift of your presence.
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- Teach us, lord, in all those places to be your fragrance.
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- For we ask it in jesus name.
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- Amen.
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