2 Corinthians 1:3-4 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.
This passage of Scripture teaches us a few great truths about comfort. The first truth we see is that God is the God of all comfort, simply put there is nothing that God cannot comfort us in. The second truth we see is that God does comfort us in all of our tribulations, not only does He have the ability to comfort us, He is willing to comfort us! The third truth that we see is that God wants us to do something with the comfort that we have received, He wants us to share that comfort with others! This passage of Scripture is what drove my wife and me to start this blog. Through the trials of miscarriages and infertility we have come to realize that God is the God of all comfort. He has comforted us and we need to share this comfort with others. In this post I just want to lay out three comforts that God has given me through these great trials; I hope that it can be a comfort to you!
The first comfort I want to share is the comfort of the testimony of those who have gone through these trials before me. It was shortly after our second miscarriage that I was preaching on how God is worthy in the book of Job, specifically Job 1:21 And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” After I got done with the message an 80 some year old lady came up to me and she said, “I love that verse, it was after I gave birth to my stillborn child that the church came and made me a plaque with that verse on it, I love that verse.” She said this with a genuine smile on her face. This woman had been comforted by God and recognized His worthiness even in the midst of her great trials. It was after this that I realized there is not a sweeter sound on this earth than to hear a saint, who has had their world shaken, reaffirm that their faith still holds and that God is good! No matter the trial you are going through today rest assured God has already comforted someone else in a very similar situation. I am also of the belief that God has most likely placed a person in your life who has gone through a similar trial and they will share their comfort with you. When you hear this comfort I am convinced you will also be comforted! You will know you are not alone, someone understands, and they are glorifying God through their trial!
The second comfort I want to share is the comfort of ministry to others. I am not sure how you are wired, but I am wired with a desire to want to help and to see a purpose for my circumstances. Though we may not always see a purpose for our circumstances right away, I believe God does all things for a reason, and through all of our trials, it brings an opportunity to minister. After our first miscarriage, I had no idea what God was doing. I didn’t know why God would allow it, and I did not see any ministry coming from it. After our second miscarriage, though God did something interesting, He allowed an opportunity for ministry. This first opportunity for ministry was when a couple shared with us their struggle to get pregnant. This couple soon became our “infertility friends” and we were able to minister to each other through prayer, tears, and words of encouragement! After this friendship and mutual ministry were built, God wasn’t done. He soon flooded our lives with couples who had miscarriages, struggled with infertility, and even those whose children died in infancy. Through this God gave me great comfort as I could use the trials we were going through to impact others and to point them to God. I have personally been able to share the gospel with several people, and the circumstance that opened the door was our miscarriages. If you are going through a difficult trial today, take heart, God has a ministry for you!
The third comfort I want to share today is the comfort of growing closer to God. This is the greatest comfort I have received through our miscarriages. God is the God of all comfort and the greatest lesson He has taught me through this trial is how to really pray. Now I am a pastor and I knew the mechanics of prayer before these trials, I even knew how to pray Scripture, and had the discipline of prayer in my life. Through these trials, though, God showed me a deeper truth about prayer, that truth is that prayer is an avenue to seek Christ more. This may sound simple and truly it is as prayer is how we communicate with God. Through the trial of our miscarriages and the ministry we had to others with their infertility and miscarriages, I was driven to my knees in prayer. It was after our fourth miscarriage that God allowed me to have a burden for prayer like I had never had before. Since that miscarriage I have spent several sleepless nights praying for others to have children, praying for the salvation of children, and praying for the protection of unborn children. Many people wonder how you can pray for one child or pregnancy for six straight hours, but when you are praying seeking God, it is not difficult. Through our first three miscarriages I spent a few hours praying asking God to give us a child, but after our fourth miscarriage, I realized contentment could only be found in Him, and not a child. It was at this time that I started praying with Who God is in mind and not simply my requests. You can pray for hours on end when you ask God to protect a pregnancy and your prayer is filled with all of the examples of God’s protection in your life and the Bible. It is not the length of prayer that brought me comfort, it is the closeness to God I had after I spent hours thanking God for Who He is and what He has done in my life!
I hope these three comforts can comfort you as they have comforted me, remember we serve a God who is the God of all comfort!
