Pain seems worse at night when the house is asleep. You don’t want to take a pain pill. You would rather ask for an icepack, but the one who has taken care of you all day is finally resting. How easy it would be to feel sorry for yourself. Can you hear the thoughts? You are a nuisance. Life revolves around you. Your husband has no freedom. Your doctor missed your real broken bone, and that is why the pain is so severe. The more these thoughts plague your mind, the more persistent the pain.
You know the source of those thoughts, so you refuse to give them control. Instead of dwelling on the fear they attempt to dump into your mind, you mentally search for encouraging verses like Isaiah 26:3. “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” And 2 Timothy 1:7. “God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.”
Jesus becomes the center of your thoughts. As you continually contemplate the Word, the pain, still palpable and throbbing, slowly fades into the background. Two verses spring into your mind—2 Corinthians 1:3-4. “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
The Holy Spirit is with you. You almost fall asleep knowing that God is your source of comfort, and then in your sleepiness the reason He comforts you hits fully—so that you can comfort someone else! This pain—these weeks stretching into what seems eternity are not about you. They are about how your experiences can encourage others that God is also with them in their pain. They, too, are not alone.
The pain Jesus’ took on Calvary was not only about you. It was also about others. The Comforter is with you, and He is faithful. Share His love. Share His heart. When you comfort someone else, you, also, are comforted in return. And the healing of Calvary flows—reenergized and powerfully restoring your life. You finally fall asleep in Him.
© 2019 Lynn Lacher
www.lynnlacher.com/2019/03/comfort.html
No comments:
Post a Comment