...For They Will Be Comforted Amen!

Hi Friends~

I know I said I would take a few days to recover from our big trip to my FIL's 90th Birthday,  Wow, did I need it, plus it has been pouring and tornado warnings just about every day. That really takes it's toll on my body.  While up north Dave and I walked around a bit of Washington D.C.  We took the metro (a train that goes underground)  And, we really were focused on seeing the rather new Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument.  It was amazingly huge.  It had quotes of his, around him on walls, and the statue of the man looked as if he was saying "Don't mess with me." It was wonderful to see people of all colors sitting and standing and just remembering and being hopeful.

We also saw, by accident, the WWII monument.  It was majestic, and beautiful, it had large fountains in the center, and a huge piece of marble cut in a rectangle around the fountain, to represent each state in a circle around it.  It had the engraved name of each state on it, as well as a beautiful metal wreath attached to it.  At the entrance, you walk through this entrance and there are 3 enormous, metal eagles with ribbon above us.  It was such a grand monument.  So beautiful...so sad, and so happy that we are past that.  I want to take a trip into the city to see a different monument every time we go up to see Dad...about every 3 months.

This past weekend, Dave and I drove 3 hours each way to visit our 3 grand-sons and their parents, of course.  It was such a wonderful visit, and the children were so well behaved, even after being cooped up in the house for what must have seemed like forever to them.  I started writing this at 3:30am this morning to try to avoid the stormy lightning which means "lights out" here in Central Florida. 

Speaking of Central Florida, are any of you going to the "STAMPfest" in Orlando this weekend? I am so excited to go with my mother.  I would really like to meet any of you.  :)  My email is on the side bar...let me know if you will be there. Perhaps we could meet.

I hope you have read the last post.  It was written by Pastor Larry Libby for the Discipleship Journal from November/December 2003.  As you may know, we have been reading and sharing about the Beatitudes.  He had some fabulous insights for the first half of the Scripture: "Blessed are those who MOURN."  Well, today we will be finishing up Matthew 5:4 (at least for now.)  We will be focusing on the second half of this Verse...God's promises..."For They Will Be COMFORTED."  Again, I will be sharing excerpts of the article that deal with this section.  (If you have any thoughts or anything that you have learned about this Verse, please share it in the comment section.  It is a place to exchange knowledge...I'm sure we would all want to read what you say...we are here to encourage each other also, so if you have a prayer need, please don't hesitate to let us know.)  I suggest everyone read the comments from the last post, there were wonderful truths to read about dealing with grief.  A winner of the He IS Able Blog Card Set will be chosen on Thursday...maybe even more than one!  So, please be sure to leave a comment, before midnight on Tuesday next week.

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This is what Pastor Libby finished the first part with:

"I am in distress, my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.  My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning;  my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak."

(Psalm 31-9-10 Written by David.)

For now, there are other days.  Days when the storm parts, when the clouds become sheer, and I glimpse another time, another land, another place.  Through tears, I see comfort. On up ahead.  It will come.

For now, there is mourning.  I am sad for the loss of my companion and best friend.  I grieve for the years we might have shared had God spared her.  I grieve for my children, who must navigate the rest of life without their mother who loved them.  I struggle with the loneliness, the heaviness, and the days when the bottom seems to drop out of life altogether.

BUT, it will not always be so.  COMFORT WAITS AHEAD.  I have seen it through the clouds.  I have glimpsed it on the edge of the storm.

A mountain of white.

A sky of blue.

A land golden with morning light.

I am heading in that direction.  One day I will leave this climate zone for that one.  I will see Jesus, and I will see Laura.

Is my comfort, then, all future?  IS there nothing today?

There is and it is this:  Through the worst year of my life, the darkest 12 months I can imagine. I have found the best of friends.  At one time, friends were a pleasant accessory to life, a nice diversion.  Now, I need them desperately, and my brothers and sisters in Jesus have walked steadfastly by my side.

And I have found my Savior as never before.  I used to pray politely, using all the right phrases.  Now I cry out like a lost and lonely child.  I have prayed on my face.  I have reached for the hem of His garment.  I have held my arms aloft in the darkness of the night, needing the firm grasp of His hand.

I never used to pray that way.  I never used to to hope that way.  Now I do.

In the middle of the storm, I have found those who walk with me.  When the storm parts, if only for a moment, I have seen comfort shimmering on the horizon...Not so far away."

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I hope everyone learned at least one thing about grief.  I learned quite a bit.  And, I really like this Pastor's writing style.  This was all taken directly from the magazine, Discipleship Journal.  I just love how much information they squeeze into one issue.  Next week, we will fine some very interesting information on the Beatitude "Blessed are the MEEK, for they will INHERIT the earth."  (Matthew 5:5)

I am kind of grieving in the future right now.  My son will be going to an Air Force base in England very soon...for 2 years...and then 3 years minimum to go somewhere after that.  That is a very long time for this Mom to go with only 2 visits. He'll come home once, and hopefully, we will go up there once.  I am grieving what we will be missing out on.  He's getting sad about it, also. He won't even share his new current mailing address.  He told me he'd better get used to not getting birthday or Hanukkah or Christmas or Thanksgiving cards...I told him the mail will reach him.  He just doesn't want to think of what he is missing out on.  But, he will have so much to do there.  The 22 year old (past) Traci is envious of the opportunities he will have there.

I can't wait to read your comments about grieving and being comforted. If you are grieving about ANYTHING, please...open your heart, share your pain with us...you don't have to use names. We would love to help carry your burden. Most of us think of grieving as a death. It could be a divorce, a job lost, a child going off to college...leaving you with an empty nest...even a pet passing causes grief. We are here for you! And, believe me, we get so much encouragement and ideas from you...it is a two-way street.

So sorry this post rambled on.  I had a lot to share.  I will be here Thursday, and hope you will be here also!

He IS Able!

Traci Starkweather