Tag: Comfort

Two Random Thoughts

Two random thoughts.

1.  Papa has overwhelmed me the last few days with his unending love for me.

2.  Our dog, Toby

I don’t know where this is going, but I’m journaling it anyway.  This will be a weird one I can tell but I can’t wait to see where it ends up when I’m done.

Over the weekend, Father overwhelmed me with his love for me in a very awesome way.  The story is much too long for this blog, but just suffice to say, he answered a very specific prayer in a very specific way.  In the midst of it, I heard him tell me how much he loved me and it just moved me to tears.  I am so grateful for his love, even if he never does another thing for me as long as I live.

We have a dog, Toby.  He’s small enough that he can – and does – make a perch at the top of the couch in the big overstuffed cushions.  He will lay there all day long, doing nothing and minding his own business.  I noticed today that every time I walked past him (perhaps 8 or 10 times throughout the day), I would just reach down and scratch the scruff of his neck or scratch his belly or something.  I noticed that it was just comforting and therapeutic to just pet the dog.

After I realized what I was doing and how often I was doing that, I felt Papa ask me, “Are you [spiritually] as warm and inviting to others as Toby is to  you?”  “Were you [spiritually] a dog, would other people want to cuddle you and scratch you behind the ears?”

The overwhelming feeling I felt earlier this weekend of God’s unbelievable love for me, is the same feeling God wants me to pass along to those who come in my path.  He wants me to love on others the way he loves on me.  He wants me to bring comfort  to others the way he comforts me.  As He pours into me, I am to overflow to others.  2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (ESV)

Now I will always have a visual aide in my walk… our dog, Toby, lying on the top of the sofa.

There are so many pictures that paints, but that will be another post.

Papa, thank you for your love.  Thank you for your overwhelming presence and goodness.  Help me love others the way you love me.  Help me comfort others the way you comfort me.  Every time I scratch the dog, remind me of how you want me to represent you.  I love you more every day.

Comfort

Job 2:11-13

After all of Job’s troubles come in Chapter 1 and 2, Job’s three friends come to see him.  Job 2:12 says that his friends “scarcely recognized him” he was so disfigured from being covered from head to toe in boils and scraping them with broken pottery just to find some relief.  These were his friends – we often forget that because we view their accusations as “not friendlike”.  They knew Job.

Here’s the interesting thing to me.  Job 2:13 (NLT) “They sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights.  No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.”  Wow!  In our microwave society, how often do we want to “fix” it… quickly, because Heroes is going to be on in 30 minutes…

We all understand biblical comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4), as we learned on Quest, and I believe it is an amazing process that Father has put in the heart of man to comfort each other, our wives and our children, but I think there are times when no words at all is warranted.  There are times when we just need to be there and say nothing.  I don’t always have to offer some words of comfort, sometimes just the presence of a friend physically standing with you is O so powerful.  The lyric from the C&W song “You say it best, when you say nothing at all” is sometimes very appropriate in times of comfort.

Father, thank you for comfort.  Thank you for your Word that gives us models and examples of how to live life together.  Please help me know when to speak and when to just “be there” for a hurting soul in need of comfort.  Help me best represent You in each situation.