Words of Comfort

September 22nd marks the 4th anniversary of Aiden going to Heaven.  As I reflect on the last four years and my grief journey, I have revisited several scriptures that I have held closely and I want to share them. 

I have often said to friends and family that I have never thought so much about Heaven until my child went there. 

If you have lost someone unexpectedly, the pain and sorrow feels different than losing someone you knew was dying.  Aiden is not the 1st person in my life to leave this Earth but the grief and pain are certainly different in many ways. 

I have read grief books, blogs, and attended grief classes.  None of them provided what I was seeking.  My greatest comfort has been from God Himself through prayer, meditation, reading scripture, and journaling.  I have always counted on God’s word to give me hope and peace.

I hope it gives you the same. 

Psalm 90: 12   Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

Job 14: 5   You have decided the length of our lives.
    You know how many months we will live,
    and we are not given a minute longer.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

1A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume.
    And the day you die is better than the day you are born.
2 Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.
    After all, everyone dies—
    so the living should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
    for sadness has a refining influence on us.
4 A wise person thinks a lot about death,
    while a fool thinks only about having a good time.

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Philippians 3:20  But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 

Colossians 3:1-2 

1Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.  2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

 John 14: 1-4

 1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

 1 Corinthians 15:44-58  

44b If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Thessalonians 4 13 

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.

May you be encouraged by God’s word!