The God Of All Comfort

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been sharing my testimony either in a group or individually, and when I come to the part where I state I am “thankful” to the Lord for only the two short years of our son Matthew’s life, people look at me like I’m crazy.

But I am indeed so thankful. Why? Because if the Lord hadn’t taken our son home with Him when He did I most likely would not have come to have a personal loving relationship with Jesus.

You see I was as stubborn as stubborn could be. I mean, I already had my ticket to heaven because I had been confirmed in the Lutheran faith many years before when I was a teenager and, I really wasn’t that bad of a person anyway, was I? There were much worse people than me around, of that I was sure! So what if I wasn’t always honest? So what if I stepped on people’s toes sometimes to get what I wanted – was that really all that wrong? I knew what was right for me, and I was doing my best to make sure that things happened in just the way I thought they should.

But you see, the Lord totally and completely knows us – inside and out. He created us, knitting us together inside our mother’s womb (Ps. 139:13). “All the days ordained for [us] were written in [His] book before one of them came to be” ( Ps 139:16 NIV). He had a plan for me, just as He has one for you.

One of God’s plans for my life is that I would be able to sympathize and come alongside others who have experienced the deep-rooted grief and pain that comes from losing children, and share with others what a great treasure I found, through my tears and pain. I turned my life over to Jesus during that time of sorrow, and because of that I rejoice!

You know, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind now that I will see my sweet boys again, and when that time comes, there will no more be pain or sorrow (Rev. 21:4) because I will be living with the Lord in heaven. Now would I have preferred things to have happened in a different way? Well, yes, but who am I to question God?

Yes, my friends, I am thankful. And as we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in many countries this weekend, may we remember that no matter what we go through, when our faith is in Jesus, there is nothing but beauty, peace and joy awaiting us in our Heavenly Home.

This Thanksgiving, look around you and rejoice at what the Lord has bestowed upon you – the best is yet to come, if Jesus is your Lord and Savior. Have a blessed holiday.