Comforting, huh

I can remember when I was sick as a child. Sometimes the TLC from my parents helped me more than my medicine did. The comfort of my Daddy's big lap surrounding me as I sat on him, the sweetness of my Mama's voice singing as I lay on her chest, and the security of their "big" bed to snuggle in when I was scared to be alone in my bedroom were all provided freely without so much as a second thought. Even though my parents aren't physicians, there is much to be said for the healing power of love.

As the baton is passed on, I find myself caring for three sick children that want to be held, sung to and snuggled in the big bed. Though I can not make it "all better," I thank the Lord for the ability He has provided me to love my children, unconditionally. I cannot perform this perfectly, but nonetheless, I can perform it. Without Christ, this is an impossible feat. In Christ, our love can now, bear all things, hope all things, and endure all things. (I Corinthians 13:7)

As I think about that comfort provided by earthly fathers, I can't help but marvel at the constant comfort our Heavenly Father provides. "Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant." Psalm 119:76 Again in Psalm 119:50, "This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life." God's Word, that's our comfort. As sinners, our hearts are blackened from sin. We have a sin nature, and though, we as Christians sin less, we are not sinless. We must seek God's comfort daily, many times a day to keep from becoming "ill." We are exposed to many "diseases" and "plagues" in the world. Our only hope to combat these "illnesses" is to inoculate, if you will, ourselves with the healing and protective Word of The Living God.

So even as I administer meds and hugs to my sick little children tonight, my prayer is their real source of comfort will come from the Word we read to them and the prayers we lift up to the Lord on their behalf. "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 affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." II Corinthians 1:3-5