“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.”  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

 I want to talk to you today about the God of all comfort.  We are starting a grief group at our church for those who have lost loved ones.  So often, after the funeral, people return to their daily routines, but our grief continues and we feel alone.  We get up in the morning, put one foot in front of the other and do what’s necessary to survive.  Often, that’s all we can do that day!  Tears are near the surface and with it a state of depression.  BUT GOD!!  When we turn to Him, he sends comfort and encouragement, sometimes from the most unlikely source!  It might be a phone call from someone you hardly know, a note of encouragement in the mail, a Christian song on the radio that brings hope, a verse from God’s word that touches your heart.  Our dear Savior is always near, helping us through the sad times.  What we receive from Him, we can pass on to others.  He always meets us in our need.

Here’s an amazing story I’d like to share with you!  Joseph Bayly wrote of suffering and death.  He knew suffering, he had buried 3 sons:  an eighteen day old infant, a five year old who died of leukemia and an 18 year old who died of complications from an accident.

Shortly before his 18 year old son died, he had become engaged to a godly young woman.  After his death, she was so concerned about the sorrow of Joseph and his wife that she gave them a poem that meant a great deal to her.  It was a poem written by the German pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer entitled, “Next Year – 1945.”  He wrote it to his own fiancée just three months before he was taken by the Nazi’s and executed at the age of 39.  Two stanzas read:

“Should it be ours to drain the cup of grieving,

Even to the dregs of pain, at thy command,

We will not falter, thankfully receiving

All that is given by thy loving hand.

 

While all the powers of God attend us,

Boldly, we’ll face the future, be what may

At even, and at morn, God will befriend us,

And oh, most surely on each New Year’s Day!”

Sometime later, Bayly received a letter from a pastor in Massachusetts.  He had been visiting a lady in a hospital in Boston who was seriously ill and daily growing weaker.  One day, to minister to her, he gave her a copy of Bayly’s book “Heaven” which included the poem. The lady stayed up all night reading it.  She told everyone how it had helped her, and within a few days, she died.

She had emigrated from Germany shortly after World War II.  Her name was Maria Von Wedemeyer.  At the time Bonhoeffer was imprisoned, she was his fiancée!  The poem had been sent originally to her! From Bonhoeffer to Maria, from Maria to another grieving fiancée, from this fiancée to others she loved, to a book written for hurting people, then through one of Baylys’ friends to Maria as she lay dying in a Boston hospital!  Only God could orchestrate such a plan!  When you give away encouragement, you start a process.  Loving and caring are only good if you give them away.  “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”  Galatians 6:2.

We invite you to join our GriefShare group, beginning next Monday.  You will receive a warm welcome!  Come and let us help bear your burden!

Your friend, Jean