Becoming a comforter

I received a beautiful email from my sweet and dear friend Audrey.  She made a beautiful smilebox greeting card for me.....it was full of comfort and love.  What a unique and priceless gift.  She reminded me of some words that my mom shared with her to comfort her when she was grieving a tremendous loss.  She said, That God doesn't comfort us to make us comfortable but to make us comforters. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Praise to the God of All Comfort

 ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

So a great reminder to me in processing through another loss, that God has great purpose and uses loss in our lives so that we are equipped to comfort others when they are in need.  He seems to be equipping me again and again. I can choose to say thank you Jesus for showing me and teaching me to become a comforter. It seems to be a natural flow for some.  It doesn't always come naturally for others.  But God does the equipping when we have open hearts to hear Him speak.  I pray for an open heart for God to do His work in me.  To do the equipping, the teaching so I can be an encourager to someone else, like Audrey was for me and my mom was for her, back 20 some years ago. 

 

 

Gladys a loving legacy of faith and family!

It seems we've had our share of sadness lately.  I wonder what God is thinking.  When is it enough?   We've now in one year, lost 2 family members and a severe diagnosis for 2 grand babies.  I'm really tired of loss.  But I am learning through each one, that God is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  I learn to cling to Him in these times and cling to His word.  I'm learning that God doesn't waste our pain, our sorrow, or our loss. God uses these to make us more like Him.  Each situation that leaves us in pain brings us closer to God when we let him use it in our life in new ways.

My mother in law Gladys Boyce passed away on Saturday March 12th.  She was ready to go, I know she longed for heaven.  We will miss her, she lived a wonderful life.  She had a wonderful gift of family surrounding her.  She never wavered in her faith.  She underlined in her Bible Psalm 100 and I have been looking at that scripture this week.  It has comforted my soul and I'm so glad she left that for us.  She focused on the goodness of God, even in the light of adversity, struggle and pain.

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise. ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the LORD is God.
   It is he who made us, and we are his^[a];
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations. 


She certainly has left a lasting legacy of love, faith and family.  What a wonderful gift she leaves. Although we are never ready to let someone go.  It is such a shock to have to say goodbye.  But our goodbye is only for a short time.  Thankfully heaven is getting more and more precious to me all the time.  We love you Gladys.  We will miss you!