I don’t get it. How can people make it through life without having a true and personal relationship with Jesus Christ? The world is rapidly falling further and further into the gutter, and my heart just bleeds for young couples trying to raise their children in a godly manner in these days and times. How do people cope when they lose their loved ones without the Living Hope of Jesus? Just making it through one day is tough enough!
As you might have guessed from my website, a very key life passage since becoming a Christian has been 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV):
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
As I mentioned briefly in my post But Then Real Life Sets In, the realization hit both Gary and myself after we were asked to share our testimonies about losing our boys that our ministry was going to probably be focused on just that: Helping others make it through their loss, and pointing them to the only One who can help them. Yikes – where would I be today without surrendering my life to Jesus – scary even to think about it!
The support we continued to receive from our wonderful church after our loss and after learning of Jeffrey’s diagnosis was incredible. People praying for us, and just loving us.
Then came the day after a Sunday service when a friend came up to me and told me a horrendous story of a friend of hers – who also attended the church – who had recently lost her teenage son in a car accident in which he was not at fault. My friend shared with me that her friend was thinking of starting a support group for parents who lost children. My friend had told her about me, thinking perhaps we could join together.
I was certain that this was the right direction, so I arranged to meet with this woman one day after church. I expressed my sympathy for her loss, and told her that I would certainly love to join with her in putting a group together, sharing how important it was to have God at the forefront, because only He is able to take away the pain. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me.
“I don’t want God to have anything to do with this group,” she told me. Her anger was evident. She was furious at God for allowing this to happen.
I have to admit I was shocked. How could a Christian woman not want God brought into a support group? What hope could you give anyone without faith in Him?
I quite frankly don’t remember how I responded at that time, but it didn’t take me long to realize that it was not a support group that I could become involved in. Because without Jesus, my life would fall apart.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
Psalm 18:2-3 (NIV).
The God Of All Comfort 