3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isaiah 53:3 NKJV
By Bro. John L. Cash
As you can imagine, our little community is still in mourning. That is to be expected. (Click here to read about what happened.)
Obviously, there are no quick cures for the aftereffects of tragedy and grief. When something doesn’t have a cure, you can only speak of remedies that strengthen and soothe.
So today I’ll pass on the best advice I’ve ever received about these things. When I was a child (and first confronted with sadness) my grandmother told me something that has become the standard advice I give others. “John,” she said, “I’ve seen a lot of situations like this. And the only two things that help are TIME and PRAYER.”
Decades of believing and practicing this principle have convinced me how true it really is. The passage of time allows us to heal and to develop perspective about what the Lord may be doing in our lives. And prayer moves the hands of God; sometimes prayer changes our circumstances, and sometimes prayer changes us.
So, when you’re grieving, avail yourself to every source of help within your grasp. Give the situation lots of time. Don’t forget to pray—and to ask for the prayers of others. Share the help that God gives to you with all the hurting people you meet. You cannot bring comfort to others without bringing some comfort to yourself.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart[SS1] , Arkansas, and has spent the last 31 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. (On week days has a desk-job at a public school, where he used to teach Latin on closed-circuit-television.) He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where the people of Chunky, Mississippi are still in the need of our prayers.) Their kids include Spencer (age 25), his wife Madeline (age 25), and Seth (age 22), and his wife Leanne (age 21). You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
