God of All Comfort

I have had a lot on my mind and heart lately. It actually feels good to write it out and share it with you. This is my chance to be able to share what the Lord has been showing us through this time in our lives. It helps me to get some things off my mind, but at the same time I am hoping it might minister to someone out there as well.

Because we live in a small town with a smaller hospital, we had to be flown to Portland, Oregon to OHSU when I had gone into pre-term labor to be somewhere that was equipped for Seth to be born pre-term and deal with his gastroschisis. As soon as we heard we were being flown out, we had called our parents to let them know and they immediately were on their way to Portland to be there with us. Our parents were a huge blessing to us as we were at the hospital for that week waiting to see what was going to happen and then when we found out that the Lord had taken Seth to be with Him, it was such a relief to have our parents there with us. You see, it is an amazing thing to me how the Lord has orchestrated the lives of Matthew and I and our families. Matthew's parents had lost their first born son, Brian, just a few days after he was born. My parents had also lost a daughter, Marguerite, just a few days after she was born. And now the Lord who has brought Matthew and I together, took our son Seth to be with Him. With all three of these babies in our family, none of their causes of death were connected in any way. Some might say that is so weird! But I say, that is the hand of God in our lives. 1 Corinthians 1:3-4 says...
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

We were and still are being comforted by those who have been comforted! The Lord brought our parents through very similar situations and have healed their broken hearts through the years and with the comfort that they have recieved by God they now in return were comforting us. This has been such a blessing and strength to us and I praise God for our parents and the comfort that they have brought to us.

Matthew and I have not experienced anything like this in our lives until now. We have not known heartache and pain and loss like this. But now we are able to reach out and comfort those in need like we were not able to before. We are now able to "comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." I know it's not a new thing. We have read these verses and have known them all our lives, but the comfort of God and the comfort that we ourselves have recieved and are now able to give out, is a new revelation to us. We now know the comfort of our God and how precious it is to be held by Him. I looked up the actual definition of the word "comfort". It is a state of being relaxed and feeling no pain. This is so true because in that moment that I am being comforted by God or by our parents, I am in a state of knowing that everything is going to be all right and at that moment not feeling my heartbreak, but being at peace. Knowing the God of all comfort is just one of the many ways that we have gone deeper with Him through all of this and we are so thankful to Him for allowing us to experience this comfort.