I don’t know about you, but I have found myself struggling with looking for junk food or ways to replace that junk food during this fast. I am coming to a realization that junk food has had more of a hold on me then I thought. Even though I have some grapes or an apple to eat, a box of mozzarella cheez-its would be awesome! Or how about those chocolate chip cookies that Dana loves to make? Many people struggle with junk food as a form of comfort in their lives.
This fast is opening my eyes to the different ways people cope with things. For some it’s junk food, for others it may even be drugs or alcohol. I pray this is opening your eyes to the fact that we’ve relied on our own forms of coping instead of God’s answer. God sent us His Comforter, His Holy Spirit to be our comforter. Why do we not rely on Him in times of stress? Why do not give things over to Him & allow Him to deal with it? Why do we have such control issues in our life?
Today’s Bible reading is 2 Corinthians 1. I love these two verses: 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. Have you ever thought about the fact that if you didn’t have stress, troubles or go through storms, you would be a very weak witness? We pray so much for God to protect us, to keep us from suffering & shelter us. Yet we fail to realize that the Bible has much to say about the sufferings that are to be expected (Ecc. 7:14; 1 Peter 1:6-7) . And we are should be joyful during that time. Why? Because God is molding & shaping you into the person He wants you to be that will be useful for His Kingdom. The maturing process is a process of pressure being applied. Just as a potter does w/ the clay he's molding. Then the clay goes into the oven...ouch!
Let your sufferings cause you to rely on The Comforter. Then you will be able to flow in the same compassion Christ has for us as you deal with others that find themselves suffering.