Now I remember!

I wanted to do a little more than confess. I wanted to ask the open ended question: How do you speak words of comfort and purpose to someone in the midst of difficulty? I was preparing a sermon on the topic a few weeks ago, and has to scrap it. The words, while true, felt hollow. Perhaps this is because I am in the midst of difficulties, and the people that I was thinking about were also in the midst of difficulties. Perhaps it is impossible to implant new knowledge regarding the purpose of trials during trials. This knowledge must be transmitted during the calm, so that during the storm they might have opportunity to sink into our character, moving from head-knowledge to heart-knowledge….

FYI - Allow me to define a couple expressions I use:
Barfalonus = any general stomach gross-ness (gas, diareaha, nausea, etc.) of unknown origin.
Collywobbles of the blowhole = like barfalonus, but related to the respiratory system.