Man I did not want to go to church this morning but since Finn really wanted to and I really NEEDED to we got up and went.  It did not start off well.  I dropped Finn off at Sunday school and then went up for service.  Carla (pastor) and Paul (music director) were both on vacation which meant that Ann was preaching.

Ann is a wonderful person but not a very inspiring preacher and I often skip church when she is giving the sermon.  PLUS in the row in front of me was a mother and her young daughter who was standing on the pew and kept sliding up and back and talking loudly.  All of this was quite distracting and this was a morning where I really felt the need for peace.  I started asking myself why I was even there, how possibly could God's voice be heard in my heart when I felt so distracted and unfocused.  In fact, right after the service started I thought about skipping out,  then someone I knew came in late and sat beside me.

During the hymn she started sobbing so I put my arm around her.  She cried off and on throughout the service and when it was over I asked her if she wanted to talk.  We talked for a while and prayed together.  She is going through some major issues of the heart and there was much I could relate to but I always feel inadequate when I offer comfort to others.

Then it hit me...I don't have to be perfect and have just the right thing to say to those in pain because I am a vessel of God and He above all can offer the greatest comfort.  I just need to allow God to use me to be that light for the person who is surrounded by darkness.  It also became glaringly apparent that there were a myriad of reasons for me to have my butt in that pew that morning.

I am struggling and seeking answers for myself right now but taking the time to offer comfort and to listen to someone else who is struggling in some small way helped me.  It made me think of the verse in Isaiah (55:8) where God says:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

I know that God is there and even though I am struggling, I know He is there.  I know that the ways in how He is comforting me may not always be obvious or in the ways I think I need but He is there.  He works through those around us in ways that we could not even imagine and sometimes the greatest way He gives us comfort if by bringing us into situations where we are asked to comfort someone else.  God's grace in our lives is most often revealed in the small everyday things that we take for granted.  My prayer this day is that God opens my eyes so that I am open to the ways in which He wishes to reach me.