The God of all Comfort

Jean and I had a great morning on the doors on Friday - even though it was pouring with rain and Jean was not feeling well. But we got to the Kingdom Hall for the meeting conducted by our lovely Circuit Overseer.  He was stressing that the preaching work must be done from the heart, out of love.

It was raining too hard for anyone to do first call, so we did some return visits.  And had some good calls - ending up by being invited in by a kind Welsh lady for coffee. 

It was raining again on Saturday - though not so heavily - but we got to the Kingdom Hall for more encouragement from our kind C.O. and Jean and I did one  call. Coffee again- and two hours talking!

Jackie came round for supper - chicken pie, new potatoes, sweet potatoes (better for moi), stir fry cabbage, carrots and chile - followed by Waitrose ice-cream.   As always we cheered each other up.

And then I had such comfort from the Circuit Overseer's last two talks, on Sunday morning, because Jehovah really is the God of all comfort. 

The first talk had the title: "Do you Matter to God?", and was a reminder to us of how much Jehovah cares for us. We live in a world system that can often make us feel worthless, valueless, so we need to remember that Jehovah never looks at us that way.  He values his creation, even damaged as we are.

"“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, And your ways are not my ways,” declares Jehovah.   “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So my ways are higher than your ways And my thoughts than your thoughts."" - Isaiah 55:8.9

The second talk was  "Do not be Afraid or be Terrified".   Psalm 27:14 was a key scripture. It says:    "Hope in Jehovah; Be courageous and strong of heart. Yes, hope in Jehovah."

We can be courageous if we trust in Jehovah's strength and not our own.    And that is true even if you have a backbone of solid custard like me.    The speaker also reminded us of the lovely commendation the resurrected Jesus gave to the Christian congregation in Thyatira, at Revelation 2:19: ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and ministry and endurance, and that your deeds of late are more than those you did at first."

Our service to Jehovah is very precious, and it makes us happy, even under present circumstances.    But I often think how wonderful it will be during the Thousand Years when we have the opportunity to teach those who are resurrected. They will want to learn, be longng to lean, in wonderful loving circumstances, in an earth that is being transformed into a paradise.

I hope we are all there to experience it.  We will learn new things then too.  Things we can't even imagine or dream of.

And to bring myelf back down to the earth as it is now, it was my six monthly check and clean at the Dentist's this morning.   "And how are you?" asked my charming Turkish dentist.  "Fine, thanks. Can I go now?"  I asked hopefully. 

But no. I had my check and my clean. And he is very pleased with me!  For the first time ever I think I wasn't given stern instructions about flossing more.  So thank you Jehovah, because everything good in our lives we owe to you.  And also thank you to my dentist who is doing a good job of keeping me on the strait and narrow toothwise.