Has there ever been a time when you have thought, or even said to someone, “Pull yourself together?” Our impatience, fatigue, worry, and even misunderstanding can be the cause of this type of “encouragement.” But those we address are sometimes found in a position where they don’t have the immediate capacity to pull things together.

Sometimes we need to give people some space and time, free from the burden of guilt. We don’t want to ignore their suffering nor invalidate their experience, but instead, we want to stand with them in the waiting, and at the same time, lift them up with prayer. As David says in Psalm 38:15, “I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer.”

Remembering, that He who began a good work in you will complete it (Phil 1:6). This is the work-in-process promise that God is not finished with us. We can take confidence in the fact that our loved one’s wanderings will be carefully guided by our wise Holy Spirit.

Read Psalm 38 and look at a time when David was experiencing difficulties.