When we got to our final location in Meshanga, Mozambique – we were told that we were going to be teaching every day. The people at the church were craving to be taught the word of God and had not ever had real training before. There was a weekend for a Women’s Conference and then we were asked to spend the next 5 days after that – just teaching them the word. As soon as I was told this – I knew that I was supposed to teach them about comfort and share a testimony about the comfort that God has been to me – throughout my life and especially most recently. So, for about two days, I thought about the verse Psalm 34:18 that says that God is near to the broken-hearted and I knew that God would show me if there was anything else that I needed to say.
One morning last week, we decided that we were going to do some evangelism during the day. I felt like I was supposed to go in the morning. We headed down the street and thought we would pray for people as we ran into them. We found out that a woman in the house that was basically next door to us – had passed away from HIV. She was following her husband in death and they left behind 3 very small children… one that was just an infant. We went over to the house to pray for the people and it was an experience I will never forget. As I was praying for a woman, our translator began talking to the pastor and found out that they wanted one of us to preach a message of comfort to the people after the burial. I knew that this was where I was supposed to step in… it all made sense that God would ask me to preach a message of comfort at a funeral. It is amazing how God uses all things for good and how he takes our experiences and He turns the grief in our lives to bring healing to others and even to us. We sat among the people as they removed the woman’s body from her home …covered in nothing more than a white sheet. They then removed the children from the home and passed their bodies over her dead body — I suppose an African ceremony?! Her body was placed on a home-made gurney … made of bamboo and rope. The men picked up her body and we took a ten minute walk through the bush to the burial site. Her grave was nothing more than a hole in the ground, dug I am sure earlier that morning, by a relative. The men took and placed her body in the grave and were in the ground with her … using a shovel bring the dirt in to cover her body. A woman tore open a plastic bag and threw the deceased woman’s clothes in on top of her body. As the grave was being filled more and more ….all the women walked up and put in about two handfuls of dirt. After about 30 minutes at the grave site – we walked back to her house to have the service.
During the time of the burial, God was speaking to me and sharing more verses and encouragement I could share with the people. I began by sharing Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” and told them that it was a mere 2 weeks ago that I was doing this same thing with my family. I teared up as I shared about how I understand the difficulty of losing someone you love, that your life never really is the same and that it is okay to recognize the hurt. I told them that God commands us in 1 Peter 5:7 to “cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you” and that God requires us to lay our worries and hurts down at His feet. I also shared that God promises us in James 4:8 “draw near to God and He will draw near to you”. I told them of my experiences with death and that I know God’s comfort is real and that the Bible is right when it says in Psalm 30:5 that “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning”. The pastor asked me to tie in the salvation message with the words of comfort and I am thankful that the Lord was leading me in what He wanted me to say. It was a beautiful time for me to reflect on all that God has done in my life and how faithful He is. I mentioned this verse earlier, but I just want to re-iterate it. Romans 8:28 says that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” I have seen God work in my life so much this month – through all of the circumstances that were difficult. I am thankful that I have a relationship with a God who loves me with all of His heart and that He promises to work everything for good in our lives…even our hardest times. It was just so ironic, that God would give me the opportunity to share about His comfort 12 days after Pepaw’s funeral. This month has been a whirlwind of emotions and discomforts – but God has and is working all of it for good!
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the 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. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.”
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