comfort

A Joyful Pain

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

This week having eye surgery on Tuesday has been rough and unexpectedly painful in recovery. My greatest blessing has been my wife’s patient help and loving encouragement. No one else would have put up with me these last couple of days!

God’s challenge is for me has been to focus on the joy of my blessings. It is way too easy for ungratefulness and complaining to dominate until the pain of trials has gotten my attention.

God is so infinitely good and patient to help us. He allows our trials sometimes as a reminder that He alone is the source of our deepest needs.

Comfort and Joy

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

In the church my dad attended years ago they loved singing:

The Comforter has come, the Comforter has come!
The Holy Ghost from Heav’n, the Father’s promise giv’n;
Oh, spread the tidings ’round, wherever man is found—
The Comforter has come!    Frank Bottome 1890

God is near to comfort. But if we look to friends, activities or work in order to quiet the chorus of grief and loss we feel we will miss out on a living relationship with Him.  Maybe the past is clouding your vision of the path just ahead. Hurt, pain and the empty chair across the table are shouting out, while God whispers in His still small voice. Jesus promised to send us Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit to come and sit by our side. In His presence are quiet waters to drink from that heal and restore our souls. Once we drink from His stream we can go on with a cup of comfort to share with anyone in need along our way. Then we will know with Paul that the greatest joy is found, not by searching for it, but by asking, “Who can I comfort today?”

 

1537442188242_1280x1280.jpg

Our Comforting God

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

Do you ever wonder while passing through a night of tears what good could ever come of it? Does it seem that just when you had hopes things would get better – another crisis appeared? Why would a loving God purposely allow us to suffer? I can still remember going to church, the first Sunday after my mother’s death. A well meaning friend simply  asked how I was doing. As I started to answer emotion like a tidal wave overwhelmed me and I sat in the pew weeping. The friend who had asked just put his arm over my shoulder and sat with me till I could catch my breath. I had not known how deep those waters were until I found myself drowning in them and yet they are the waters each of us must cross.

Life’s most important question is not how to avoid pain but who we turn to for comfort at that moment. Are you hurting tonight? Feeling alone or even angry? God has not forgotten you, is not away doing something more important or waiting for you to get back to normal. There is no way to be prepared without Him. He is right at your side ready with His comfort.  God is  in those exact moments giving us not only His comfort but also His gift to carry that comfort to others who wait just down the road in our lives.

Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:4