Quotes About Support

Wise companions learn to seek out the delicate balance between offering help and offering too much help.

simple availability is the most powerful force we can contribute to help calm the fears of others. Instinctively, I shrink back from people who are in pain.

Think too of all who suffer as if you shared their pain. HEBREWS 13:3

A healthy family builds up the weakest members while not tearing down the strong.

The role of the doctor, nurse, social worker, minister, or loving friend is simply this: to keep the nutcracker of circumstances from destroying, and to help the sufferer see that even the worst hardships open up the potential for growth and development.

Those who suffer rest their security not on things, which often cannot be enjoyed and may soon be taken away, but rather on people.

One of the most important things we can do for a suffering person is to restore a sense of meaning or significance to the experience.

The first step in helping a suffering person (or in accepting our own pain) is to acknowledge that pain is valid, and worthy of a sympathetic response.

Nothing else — no learned "how-to" program, no expensive gift — is worth more to the sufferer than the comfortable assurance of your physical presence.

For people who have long-term disabilities, one of the best things we can do is to provide tools that allow them to resume "normal" activity.

involvement with others was the most effective in quelling her pain.

the same answer from suffering people: it matters little what we say — our concern and availability matter far more.

the same answer from suffering people: it matters little what we say — our concern and availability matter far more. If we can offer a listening ear, that may be the most appreciated gift of all.

When a couple encounters a crisis, it magnifies what's already present in the relationship.

the best way to prepare for suffering is to work on a strong, supportive life when you're healthy.

As Christ's body on earth we are compelled to move, as he did, toward those who hurt. That has been God's consistent movement in all history.

by embracing grief and standing beside the hurting person, we can indeed aid another's search for meaning.

Where is God when it hurts? I have often asked. The answer is another question, Where is the church when it hurts?

Perhaps the greatest way to give suffering people time is being patient with them — giving them room to doubt, cry, question and work out strong and often extreme emotions.

Every hour or so she asks how I'm feeling, and I hear her giving reports on the phone to her friends. "He's doing better today. A little trouper, doesn't complain at all." I like hearing her talk about me, as if I matter.

the parents of a severely disabled child have no end in sight.

Wounded people who have been broken by suffering and sickness ask for only one thing: a heart that loves and commits itself to them, a heart full of hope for them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep," advised the apostle Paul (Romans 12:15), wise words that apply especially in times of crisis.

a suffering person needs: love, and not knowledge and wisdom.