The Great Comforter

One of my favorite devotionals is “Jesus Calling” by  Sarah Young.  It always seems to speak to me, I’m pretty sure it is because the author writes in the first person as if Jesus is speaking directly to the reader. Today’s devotional reads...

"Look to Me Continually for help, comfort and companionship. I am always by your side, the briefest glance can connect you with Me. When you look to Me for help, it flows freely from My Presence. This recognition of your need for Me, in small matters as well as large ones, keeps you spiritually alive.

When you need comfort, I love to enfold you in My arms. I enable you not only to feel comforted but also to be a channel through whom I comfort others. Thus you are doubly blessed, because a living channel absorbs some of whatever flows through it.

My constant Companionship is the summit of salvation blessings. No matter what losses you experience in your life, no one can take away this glorious gift."

Psalm 34:4-6, Psalm 105:4, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Through the losses in my own life God has done just that, He’s been there, He’s comforted. And now by staying connected to Him, He allows me to be a channel of love and comfort to others who are hurting.

Depending on where we are in our grief, we may be at a place where God can use us and our experiences to comfort others and lead them to the Great Comforter. Take a few minutes today and think if there is anyone who may benefit from this comfort. This is why BASIS and C2H2 exist, to support parents who have lost a child as well as to support grieving children and teens. Share our website, invite them to a support group or take a few minutes to pray for them.

Father, lead us to who needs Your love and comfort. Allow us to be a channel of You.

Grief and Brokenness

A quote from Experiencing Grief by H. Norman Wright says:

In a sense grieving is a show of faith. We are trusting God to hold us in our most vulnerable time, when our feelings are raw, our life is in pieces, and our strength is gone.

An example of grief is a broken clay pot. If you take it outside and drop it or take a hammer to this clay pot, it will break into several pieces. Then take a marker and on some of the inside pieces write what your grief feels like (pain, a broken heart.) And then on the outside pieces write some of the things that support you and what is helpful in your grief (friends who listen.)

Then reassemble the pot with glue. While doing so, use this time to talk with God. Ask for His presence. Tell Him how you feel on the inside. Tell Him the pain you have. He wants to hear from you. He wants to meet with you in the brokenness. As you glue the pieces that have things on them that support you thank God for those things, the people that hold you as you cry and listen while you express your anger.

As you complete the pot remember that God is the original Potter and that He wants His name to be written somewhere on one of the outside pieces. He wants to support you, to be the glue that holds together the brokenness.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

This activity can be done individually and also as a family with school aged children.