THE GOD OF ALL COMFORTS

THE COMFORTER HAS COME (Psalm 30) "Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit. Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For his angerd lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weepingg may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning". (Psalm 30:2-5) Psalm 30 is a psalm of praise for the way God had delivered and healed David (vv. 1-3, 9-11). This psalm is not just a psalm of praise, but rather it is a Psalm that called me into the Praise of god and who He is. cpushing me towards a complete life of praise to my God. It tells me of a God who is both loving and merciful who wants to restore me and you give us a reason once again to live a life of joy and praise (vv. 4-5). At times we have felt abandoned by God because of His silence, (v. 9). But I know from experience that God won’t abandon me or you but rather He comforts us in our sorrow and is in the process of turning our tears into praise (v. 11); Because of this healing taking place we have a reason to “praise [Him] forever and ever and ever (v. 12). So I want you to remember this when you are experiencing sorrow,pain, or grief, that we can praise Him and turn to Him for comfort. I felt peace as I entered through the doors of the Sistine Chapel at the Precious Moments Park in Carthage, Missouri I stood there at the entrance and felt something I had never felt before and likely will never feel it again unless I actually go beck there. It was December of 2002, We had gone down to the USA for our oldest sons wedding, and our friend and driver knew different interesting tourist places and was willing to drive us to those spots for us to enjoy allong the way on the trip. They were all really great, but I will never forget this Precious Moments Chapel. At the time we were dealing with some very tough family issues and I personally, deep down was not doing very well, and often experienced waves of guilt and sorrow that I found swept over me from time to time like a blanket and I had a very hard time finding any comfort or peace in my inner being those days. But as I entered that chapel,I recall God’s sustaining grace falling over me like a blanket (comforter). That peace was a gift from the God that I needed in that very moment and I knew that God was a God of all comforts and He was the one who Knew, how to comfort me in that moment in my life. Let me tell you about the Precious Moments Chapel and Park. this is what I found about it on the interent. In 1975, Butcher decided to use his artistic talents for the Lord and started drawing small Biblical scenes. Initially, Precious Moments were introduced to the public as greeting cards and posters. A few years later, the series was expanded to actual figurines. Butcher was inspired to share God's love with everyone. He went from a former janitor trying to make ends meet to a millionaire. The public loved the little cherubic statues and they quickly became popular around the country. But Butcher was inspired to create something even bigger to honor God -- he built the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, Missouri. Finding inspiration from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, Butcher created his own chapel -- stained glass windows and all. The chapel features scenes from Precious Moments. Funded by his Precious Moments successes, Mr. Butcher spent four years finalizing the chapel and surrounding area, which initially included an entire Precious Moments Park, the world's largest Precious Moments Gift Shoppe, a Christmas shop open year-round, and even an incredible water fountain with Precious Moments Figures in the center. The chapel itself became known as "America's Sistine Chapel." I also remember many of the figurines were made in relation to loss and grief related to those losses. Some of the figurine depicted the true-life losses—specifically the tragic deaths of two of his adult children—deeply impacted the creator of Precious Moments, Samuel J. Butcher. While his children were not involved in the original creation of the brand in the 1970s, their losses heavily inspired later artwork, chapel dedicated rooms, and unique commemorative pieces. After entring the chapel, the peace and comfort that came over me, is very hard to explain, then I entered farther in and sat in one of the pews, and even though I had cried many tears before this, the tears that came now were tears of God's comfort and grace that washed over my soul and began a healing the inner me, which is hard to explain. It was that day, in that chapel, where God choose to truely begin my healing and I was able for the first time since my grief began, to start letting go and letting God. As I read this Psalms this morning, I could see that David too experienced great sorrow, fear, and grief but in all of that he also felt God's divine comfort. Here in Psalm 30, he writes, “I called to you for help, and you healed me” (v. 2). “Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (v. 5). Maybe morning has not totally come yet, but I beleive it is coming. Just as God turned David’s “wailing into dancing” and “removed [his] sackcloth and clothed [him] with joy” (v. 11). I beleive that one day, my complete healing and joy will come some glad morning. If not here on this earth, I know that as I enter through the doors of heaven my Joy will be complete. On that day, at the Precious moments chapel, God helped me understand that He was and is the God of all comg=forts. So I am here to tell you today, God can and will sustain you through all types and kinds of grief. Whether its a the death of a loved one, the loss of a child, a devastating fire or a huge injury from a car accident, whatever it may be, God is the God of all comforts and as we trust in Him and are sensitive to Him and His word, He will heal us and Joy will come in the morning. Ill also be honest, that joy in my soul stays put and is always there, but what is protrayed on the outside comes and goes as God's healing often takes time. Friend, if you are feeling overwhelmed with sorrow, loss, or pain, I encourage you to turn to God for He is the God of all comfort, He is the one that will stay close to you through it all. He desires and wants to heal the brokenhearted, and I for one am still here, and I give thanks to Him just as as David did here in (verse 12).: “Lord my God, I will praise you forever” (v. 12). (Isaiah 61:1-3 and Luke 4:18 NKJV) read those chapters, for this is why Jesus came. When you experience God’s comfort, stop a moment, in the moment and thank God, as you do, that comfort can come more often and God raches down and wipes away the rears each time they come. My tears still come, but God is there in a moment to comfort and to continue with His healing power. Friends God is my comfort in all situations and He will continue to be, until the day He takes me home. Dear God,I personally want to thank you for the comfort you have bestowed on me over the years, without you, I wiuld have never got this far. Thank you, I praise you and I love you for all of the great things you have done. AMEN