Tag Archives: comfort

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He Cares

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Jehovah God, Our Heavenly Father, is not some cold, uncaring deity who is distant and aloof.
My God cares about me. He cares about you. He cares about every living thing, but He cares most about people.
How do I know that?

He collects my tears in a bottle. (Psalms 56:8)
He knows when a sparrow falls, tells me I am more important than a bird, and counts the number of hairs on my head. (Matthew 29:29:30)
He sings and rejoices over me. (Zephaniah 3:17)
He answers me when I call. (Psalm 120:1)

Here are a few other scriptures that need to be read in full:
Psalms 140:12 (AMP), “I know and rest in confidence upon it that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will secure justice for the poor and needy [of His believing children].”

Psalms 103:6-8 (NIV),”The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”

Jesus said that He came to show us the Father. Jesus was a man filled with compassion. He wept when His friend Lazarus died, even knowing that he would be raised. The pain of Lazarus’ sisters brought tears to His eyes. He wept over Jerusalem. He had compassion on the multitudes and made sure that they had food, creating a miracle feast out of a few scraps of food.

The best proof of God’s care for us is the fact that He made a way to redeem us from our sins. He sent His only son, who offered up Himself, to die for us. He paid our penalty. One we could never repay. Then He rose again and ascended to Heaven so that the Father could send us His Holy Spirit. He refused to leave us comfortless. Why would we need any further proof than that?

Feeling like no one cares?
He does. More than you could ever comprehend.

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A Life To Celebrate

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On March 26th my Dad, Eddie Max McCoy Sr., passed away. My husband and I drove from Wisconsin to Washington state to be with family for the funeral service, in the town my parents retired in. A “Celebration of Life” memorial is being planned for a later date. So on the long trip over, I had time to think about the things we could celebrate about my Dad’s life.

My Dad wasn’t perfect. He had his flaws. He was just a tad stubborn, sometimes he lacked patience, and his temper ran on the warm side. His life was full of mistakes, bad times, and some wrong choices (like most lives). He did have his shining moments. There were successes as well as failures, mountain top experiences as well as the valleys, and many, many good times.

Dad wasn’t the perfect parent, but he loved us all, was a good provider, and genuinely wanted our lives to be better than his was. That stubbornness also came out as tenacity and he never gave up. Through every bad time, he stuck it out. He showed us how to fight back and to expect things to get better. He had a peculiar sense of humor that all of his children and grandchildren will remember forever. God gifted him to be a story teller and we grew up hearing stories about his life. (Some were great examples of what not to do!) Dad also was artistically gifted. He loved to paint and sculpt. I am thankful for that as we will always have his artwork to remember him by. If Dad ever saw someone needed a hand, he was quick to step up.

Though patience wasn’t always one of his virtues, there were times he had the patience of Job. Some of my fondest memories are from when we went camping as kids. He patiently untangled lines, unhooked snags, and for me, baited my hook (I couldn’t do the worm thing). To this day I still love to fish (my husband still untangles my line and baits my hook). He left all of his kids with so much. Yes, we tend to be stubborn, and some of us tend to have a bit of a temper, and we are still learning to be patient, but we also all have some artistic ability, we can all tell a story, and like him, we all know how to help out in a pinch.

The most important thing my Dad ever did was to put his trust in God and give his heart to Jesus. Two times my Dad had died and was brought back. Both times, though his body was going through terrible issues, his spirit experienced something totally different. One of those times, as my Mom drove him to the hospital, his body convulsed and it was all she could do to drive and keep him on the seat, but later, by Dad’s account, we found out that his spirit was in perfect peace. He experienced no pain, worry, or regret. Just perfect peace. I too have had one of those experiences and can confirm the peacefulness of the passing of our spirit. So I am confident that though his body has passed away, my Dad still lives, in peace, with the Prince of Peace, where there is no pain, sorrow, or regret.

So, my Dad wasn’t perfect and his life certainly wasn’t. But his life was full and is most definitely a life worth celebrating. He will be sorely missed by many.

I firmly believe that his hope, for us who are left behind, (and my prayer) is that you would follow his example. Place your trust in Father, and surrender your hearts to Jesus, so that when it is our time to give up these mortal bodies, we too can be with him in Heaven.

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God’s Comfort

(Written previously)
Can I be honest? We all have our moments, those days when we wonder why we even got out of bed. When all the news seem bad, at worst, and less than what we hoped for, at best. What do we do with those moments? Usually I have a good cry (I said I was being honest). My day was like that today. Not the whole day, but enough to get the tears flowing. Then when I got home and walked into my kitchen, there was a big piece of paper on my fridge that said:
” But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises Hebrew 6:9-12.”
A message right from the Comforter! Sure, I am the one who printed it off and stuck it on my fridge, but I had originally printed it off for a friend who is facing a challenge this year, but decided “what the heck” and printed an extra copy for myself. God knew I would need it today.
Then my Spurgeon Devotional said, “”Trust in Him at all times.”Psalm 62:8 Faith is as much the rule of temporal as of spiritual life; we ought to have faith in God for our earthly affairs as well as for our heavenly business. It is only as we learn to trust in God for the supply of all our daily need that we shall live above the world. We are not to be idle, that would show we did not trust in God, who worketh hitherto, but in the devil, who is the father of idleness. We are not to be imprudent or rash; that were to trust chance, and not the living God, who is a God of economy and order. Acting in all prudence and uprightness, we are to rely simply and entirely upon the Lord at all times. Let me commend to you a life of trust in God in temporal things. Trusting in God, you will not be compelled to mourn because you have used sinful means to grow rich. Serve God with integrity, and if you achieve no success, at least no sin will lie upon your conscience. Trusting God, you will not be guilty of self-contradiction. He who trusts in craft, sails this way to-day, and that way the next, like a vessel tossed about by the fickle wind; but he that trusteth in the Lord is like a vessel propelled by steam, she cuts through the waves, defies the wind, and makes one bright silvery straightforward track to her destined haven. Be you a man with living principles within; never bow to the varying customs of worldly wisdom. Walk in your path of integrity with steadfast steps, and show that you are invincibly strong in the strength which confidence in God alone can confer. Thus you will be delivered from carking care, you will not be troubled with evil tidings, your heart will be fixed, trusting in the Lord. How pleasant to float along the stream of providence! There is no more blessed way of living than a life of dependence upon a covenant-keeping God. We have no care, for He careth for us; we have no troubles, because we cast our burdens upon the Lord.”
We can’t change some things. Period. But we can change how we react, and how we see things. I’ve had my cry, a short one this time, now I am choosing to see things through the eyes of my loving Father. I choose to accept the comfort of the Holy Spirit, who does His job well. I choose to “rely simply and entirely upon the Lord at all times”, especially those moments that are hard. Amen