The God Of All Comfort

Think about this:  If you really love someone, don’t you want to shower upon them wonderful gifts – even unexpected gifts?

If you’re a parent, don’t you want to give your children all that you can give them, especially when they obey you?

But what about your parents:  Did they shower you with gifts and never-ending love, or did you feel displaced, unwanted, unloved?

I didn’t particularly care for my childhood.  My parents fought a lot – as a matter of fact I only caught them kissing once – and it totally freaked me out!  (Not sure why I just shared that, but it’s true.)

However we must remember that not one of us is perfect.  We fail often, and we don’t always treat the people we love as they deserve, do we?

But we do have a perfect Heavenly Father (Matt. 5:48), who loves us beyond all comprehension.

And as a perfect Father, His gifts and blessings come at many different times – but often when we just don’t expect them.

I can think of one time when Jeffrey had finished up his speech, physical and occupational therapies at the birth-to-3 center (Jeffrey’s Getting Stronger – Isnt’ He?).  The bills had piled up fast, and although the center was very kind in letting us pay a small monthly payment, we were starting to fret at just how we were ever going to get the bill paid off.

Then one day out of the blue a letter came in the mail from the center saying the board of directors had met, and they had decided to zero out our balance – we now owed nothing more to them!  Clearly this was a wonderful present from our Father.  Why?  Just because He loved us, that’s why.

But I’ve noticed that God often sends additional blessings our way when we have been obedient to something He’s asked us to do.  And now, as I returned from my trip to Alaska with Gary (The Majestic Awesomeness of God), we received another precious gift.

We had been fighting with our medical insurance provider regarding all of Jeffrey’s doctor and hospital bills, as well as the bills from the new therapists we were taking Jeffrey to.  The insurance company had decided that they were now going to reclassify all Jeffrey’s care and treatment under “rehabilitative” because of the seizures and/or strokes he had incurred during his delivery (Continuing Forward).  By reclassifying Jeffrey’s prognosis, that meant they didn’t have to cover the majority of his bills (wish I could say I understood really what all this meant, but we really didn’t – all we knew was that this wasn’t going to be good!).

Yes, the insurance company had lovingly (ha!) stated that you could appeal their decision, but then we started listening to “people” instead of God.  The people who were sharing with us had told us to just forget trying to appeal, as it would be a lost cause.  However we eventually decided to go forward with the appeal process anyway, turning our eyes to God instead of man.

So here we got back from Alaska, and as we were going through our mail we see a letter from the insurance company.  Of course “Mrs. The-Glass-Is-Half-Empty” (that would be me), started dreading opening the letter thinking they were going to deny our appeal.

SURPRISE!!!  The insurance company had decided to overturn their previous reclassification!  They had come to the conclusion that they now “will allow these services subject to all other contractual provisions of the policy” (i.e. paying our normal deductible).

There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Lord was sending yet another blessing upon us – perhaps because I had come before Him in repentance while in Alaska (The Majestic Awesomeness of God)?

The Bible says that God places much greater value in obedience rather than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22).  We can “do” all the right things, but why are we really “doing” all these things?  Just to check them off our lists?  Remember that God looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).

Are things not going well for you right now?  Go away somewhere nice and quiet where you can really speak to the Lord.  And then listen!  He will show you if you are not walking in obedience.  He loves you more than you can think or imagine, and wants to shower you with special blessings.  Remember, our God is with you during the good times and the bad, and will never leave you nor forsake you (Josh. 1:5).