For They Shall Be Comforted

Hello, dear readers! It might be a little early in the game to do this but I just want to thank you. Your comments have meant so much to me. Just the fact you’re following my posts means so much to me! Thanks for encouragement that wonderfully overwhelms my heart.

***

Today, the loved ones of those lost this past week are still very much on our hearts and minds. I know you’re joining me in the prayer that they’ll feel God’s love in extra measures in the days to come. It’s not that God’s love fluctuates…not at all. But the intensity with which we feel it does. That just goes with the human experience. That’s ok though, because if we were to feel the full “weight” of His love this side of heaven, I think it would be more than our fragile frames could handle. God’s love is so great and the truth is, we can’t comprehend even a fraction of it. God says that’s ok too. He understands us better than we understand ourselves and does not fault us for our humanness.

One of the most moving sermons I have ever heard came from a layperson. This man, who happens to be a friend of mine and goes to my church, stepped up front recently to talk of the hope we can know in Christ. And though I can only paraphrase and share what my memory serves, I can tell you this message should be in a book and should be in all our hands because it’s one of the most inspiring I have ever heard.

I’m thinking of his message today as I’m thinking of those in mourning.

This man’s story is a difficult one, to say the least. I’ve known him a few years but it wasn’t until he got up to speak recently that I learned more of his story. His deeply painful experiences seem to far outweigh the number for many others. He lost his brother when they were young. He lost his mom and dad when he was older but in difficult situations. He lost a 16 year old nephew, as well. And then, and this has happened within the short time I’ve known him and his sweet wife (who is also a dear friend of mine), he lost his son. His son took his own life two Septembers ago after succumbing to a battle with depression. Few of us can wrap our heads around what this man and his wife have been through.

I’m getting to the encouraging part, I swear.

My friend stood up in front of our congregation and with tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat, he spoke of how good God has been to him and his family. This was not a false witness, friends. No one is that capable. This was truth. This was real. He spoke of nights when the pain would seize him and the supernatural relief he’d feel from the love of Jesus. He spoke of the joy in his heart despite his circumstances. And he said one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard:

How can someone who has been through this stand here and tell you God’s love and peace are real if they weren’t?

Again, I must paraphrase but that was the gist of what he said.

Wow.

By the end of that sermon, I was in tears and I believe pretty much everyone else was, as well.

This man gave God all the glory. He didn’t claim some superhuman strength of his own. He simply spoke the truths of God’s Word: You will feel God holding you when you need to be held. Those who trust in the Lord can confidently claim the “peace that surpasses all understanding” as taught in Philippians 4:7.

Why do I bring this up now?

Because it is my sincere prayer that those suffering will remember to lean on God and allow themselves to know this peace. As my friend said, it won’t be easy. There is pain this side of heaven. But God is a God of miracles. And God can restore what’s been so badly broken. And God can lift you above the rubble and direct your story into something you never would have dreamed possible. The Father loves you, knows your heartbreak and suffers with you. He will not allow this to take you under.

One more thing about this friend of mine…

I can tell you that he loves with his whole heart. He is constantly encouraging, uplifting and hugging those around him. He emphatically kisses you on the cheek whenever he sees you and it’s super sweet and wonderfully delightful! He has a way of making you smile when you can’t find much to smile about. And he does just about everything he does with a great deal of enthusiasm and passion. His wife is equally as wonderful. She is a more quiet spirit but her love and her heart can be felt from across the room. They are incredible. I can’t imagine our church family without them. I can’t imagine our world without them.

Friends, this man isn’t any more capable of something so extraordinary than we are. He’d be the first to tell you that. This is God.

His God is our God. That peace is ours.

I hope those missing loved ones today will think of them resting in the place where suffering will reach them no more. I hope they will remember the joy set before them in the reuniting. I hope they’ll know the peace that surpasses all human understanding as they lean on a God who is BIG enough to handle their brokenness and already able to see the day their sorrows turn to joy.

To God be all the glory.