Couch With Cup Holders

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Matthew 5:4

I'm kind of messed up right now. My back is hurting in two different places, my ankle is hurting from an old injury, my toe is hurting, my head is kind of throbbing from a cold...just a mess.

As I sit here writing this devotional, what struck me today, is the word comfort. Though I'm physically a mess, I'm sitting on this super comfy leather couch. It's one of those you sink into and could just sit or sleep there all day. Bridget hates it because it's ugly. I love it because it's comfortable...and it has cup holders.

I was realizing something though. This couch isn't making my back not hurt, it's not making my head not hurt, or my toe or my ankle. It's just making me comfortable as those things heal. Isn't that what God does while we are mourning?

God doesn't want you to not mourn. No, He wants you to mourn. That's a step toward blessing according to this verse. Mourning is a place that He steps into to become your comforter. The actual mourning that we experience when we lose something isn't all bad. He doesn't want to just take that away and have you not feel. What is promised is that he will comfort you as you mourn loss.

Whether it's loss of relationships, loss of a job, lifestyle, hope, or life, God is there to comfort you. He just wants you to mourn with Him instead of trying to push through on your own...without Him.

Church, this week as things come up that you are mourning, press into God. Let Him be your comfy leather couch...with cup holders. Let Him create the comfort around you to let you mourn. That's how He begins to turn your mourning into dancing.

Praying for you today.

Charlie