November 16

“What do we mean by the comfort God gives?....is it an honest and genuine comfort that enfolds life’s trials and pains in an all-embracing peace?  With all my heart I believe it is...”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 10/27

The words “comfort” and “comfortable” don’t hold the same meanings for me even though the dictionary would beg to differ.  When I think of being comfortable I think “free from any bother” whether it be mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual.  In fact it conjures up images of being lazy---how many times have I’ve gotten comfortable with the way something was to the point of not bothering to do what needed to be done?  So when I hear words like “comfort” connected with God I don’t always let the real meaning of the word sink in.  What I’m learning is that it is OK to be comfortable in the midst of the hard places in life if God is the source of your comfort.  When He isn’t the source, then it means you’ve gone outside His will to find your comfort.  This will always backfire.  It is a temporary comfort that serves to lull you into complacency.  This reminder is not only a comfort to me, but also will be a source of compassion when I see others attempting to make themselves comfortable in difficult circumstances.  Rather than be angry with them for seemingly ignoring their problems, instead I will pray that they will turn to God instead to receive their comfort.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”  2 Corinthians 1:3, 4 

April 25

“Perhaps some may ask why it is, if all things are indeed God’s servants sent to bring us some message or some gift, that they themselves never seem to get these gifts or messages.  The answer is simply this, that because these gifts and messages have come to them wrapped in coarse and ugly packages, they have refused to receive and open them.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 4/25

Today’s Daily Secrets is again reminding me that all things are God’s servants and that some of His blessings come wrapped in coarse packages.  I had this thought pop up yesterday about the old poems I’d received this week in the mail from a cousin.  The poems were written by our great-grandmother around 1880, and I was feeling discouraged about how difficult they are to read because of the deterioration of the paper and ink. In addition, I’d hoped there would be some letters in the bunch since the poems could be based on fiction rather than fact and therefore give me no more information about their lives than I already had, which isn’t much.  As I mulled over my discontent I was reminded that I hadn’t actually read all the poems yet.  Perhaps, hidden within the faded pages--or yet to come from my cousin or some yet unknown source--are pieces of the puzzle that will shed light on all the clues I already have.  I must carefully examine what I do have so that I’ll be able to see what’s yet to come.  This is what she means when she says some of our blessings are wrapped in coarse and ugly packages!

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”  Philippians 4:8

April 18

“Whatever overflows you with its waves and billows, He can cause it to flee.  He can drive back your ‘Jordan’ and turn the ‘flint’ into a veritable 'fountain of waters'.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S. 4/18

A burst pipe decided to “overflow” with its “waves and billows”.  This on the morning we were planning to leave on vacation.  I had not planned on having to spend three hours--before my first cup of coffee, no less--carting furniture out to the garage and vacuuming water out of my basement before I left on a three-day vacation!  Nor did I realize God was about to speak to me in an awesome way.  Moments before the discovery of our awaiting “waves and billows” I had been complaining to my husband about my feelings of “not mattering”.  I’d been brooding on it for several days and was officially depressed about it.  As I waded barefoot into the ankle-deep, icy cold water removing everything I could easily pick up it suddenly hit me that we would not have been home if we’d left on our vacation as originally planned.  The school system had taken back two days from Spring Vacation because of too many snow days.  I’d had to change the day we were to leave. This “Jordan” could have continued unchecked for at least another eight hours when the neighbor boy was scheduled to feed the cat.  I began praising God for this, and just as suddenly as God had driven back the Israelites’ Jordan, my "Jordan" of overwhelming feelings I’d been experiencing earlier were driven back.  In praising God in the midst of the overflowing water I was delivered from my self-pity and set on dry ground.

“For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.”  Hebrews 2:18