Consider this

 You do not need to be more grateful. You need more of this.  https://youtu.be/EqB3_6P4ses  

    Granted, that is not the nicest article title ever, but it is excellent advice for helping a friend who is going through a difficult time.     Often, our first instinct is to stay away.  We do not want to get involved.  We want to avoid the mess.  We convince ourselves that our friend has enough going on and we would only be in the way.       None of that is true!     Avoiding your friend only isolates them and makes them feel even more alone.  What they need is your presence.  Period!  You do not need to have answers or give advice.  That is where the shut-up part comes.     When things go wrong, we ask “Why did this happen?”  We want to solve the puzzle.  “Cause and effect” makes sense to us.  Sometimes there is a direct cause that needs to be addressed, but often the issues are much more complicated than that.  More to the point, placing blame does not help....

 There are no easy answers, but this may help. Forget these two common beliefs!  https://youtu.be/LPNu47ztYSI    

 God’s ways are not our ways…. And that is a good thing!  https://youtu.be/0wEdhLw-B-E    

  If you were choosing people to work with during New Testament times, and the two picks were Peter and Stephen, you would choose Stephen every time. We first meet Stephen in Acts 6 when the leaders needed some men to serve the people. He was an obvious choice as he was “A man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (verse 5). Stephen is strong, wise, spiritual and dependable. On the other hand, Peter’s life was marked by a series of ups and downs. He was chosen by Jesus (Luke 5) and was the first to understand that Jesus was God’s Son (Matthew 16:16). He walked on the water, but then got scared and sank like a rock (Matthew 14). Peter was ready to fight to the death when Jesus was arrested (John 18:19), but a few hours later, he denied knowing Jesus at all (all four gospels record this low point). Interestingly, these two men preached two of the first recorded sermons and received completely different reactions. When Peter finishe...

 When we understand how God sees his people, it gives us hope and invites others in.  https://youtu.be/78DOpV69Vgs