{"id":18538,"date":"2014-03-17T00:05:20","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T04:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=18538"},"modified":"2014-03-16T20:51:14","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T00:51:14","slug":"comfort-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/17\/comfort-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The Comfort of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

During this season, here on the\u00a0Seeking Him<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus\u2019 instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 5\u2014the Beatitudes. \u00a0Jesus said, \u201cBlessed are\u2026\u201d and He went on to give instruction as to how to be \u201cblessed<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0To be \u2018blessed\u2019 is to \u2018be happy, or to be envied.\u2019 \u00a0 Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed\u2014oh, how very blessed we are! \u00a0Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed\u2014and that we KNOW it! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

Please consider Jesus\u2019 instructions along with us. \u00a0We pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be prepare your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. <\/span><\/strong>
\nMatthew 5:4<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We have all lost loved ones and friends. \u00a0It is part of life. \u00a0It is our payment for sin. \u00a0We hurt when someone we know dies. \u00a0It is part of human nature to mourn and miss those who have passed onto God\u2019s Presence. \u00a0We wish that we could hold them here, but God knows when it is time for them to come home.<\/p>\n

I remember when my grandmother died. \u00a0There were many people at her funeral\u2014more than I expected. \u00a0It was a comfort to know that people cared about our family. As per Southern tradition, many friends provided our family with food. It in its own way, this was comforting, but I still mourned the death of my grandmother.<\/p>\n

God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble.
\nPsalms 46:1<\/p>\n

God blesses us by bringing people around us when we need them. \u00a0We know that we can turn to God when we are at our lowest. \u00a0We know that God will comfort us with His abundance of love. \u00a0There is enough for all to take joy in. \u00a0God is our Refuge in our sorrow. \u00a0He may not be here physically, but He helps our spirit rebound from the pain it feels for any loss. \u00a0He sends people into our lives to be the physical comforters. \u00a0They do His work by being there for us when we need them most.<\/p>\n

God blesses us in our mourning by providing those people who can help us grieve and help us move on. When we, ourselves, pass into His presence, we will not have a reason to mourn because it will be a moment of great joy. \u00a0We will not have any pain. \u00a0We will be in God\u2019s Presence and be worshipping Him. \u00a0He will comfort us Himself once we cross into His Presence.<\/p>\n

* ~\u00a0\u2665\u00a0~\u00a0\u271e<\/strong>\u00a0~\u00a0\u2665~ *<\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for the comfort You bring us. \u00a0You bless us most when need it. \u00a0You are our Refuge, and we are grateful for Your love and comfort. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[127,5832,3367,1287,425,5833,4945,4946,5784,3211,1405,844,3174],"class_list":["post-18538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-beatitudes","tag-blessed-are-they-who-mourn","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god-is-our-comfort","tag-god-is-our-refuge","tag-god-is-our-strength","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-laura-pattillo","tag-matthew-54","tag-psalm-461","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4P0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18538"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18540,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18538\/revisions\/18540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}