Last vacation I got an opportunity to attend a computer training camp. I was really excited about it. One whole week away from my family was indeed a pleasant change. But the most enticing part was that I could learn to down-load story books. The prospect was alluring.
Soon everything was agreed up on and I was happily packing my bags. Finally the great day came. All of us set out in high spirits to Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of my home state, Kerala, around 250 kms far, where the camp was to be held. We reached the place by noon. But when I reached my destination, all my high spirits seamed to decrease. A wave of unhappiness caught hold of me. Suddenly I realised that saying good-bye to my parents even if it was only for a week, was going to be a miserable experience.
My mother guessed my state of mind and strove to cheer me up. But at last, the time came when my parents and my brothers had to say good-bye to me. My brothers waved a good-bye, my mother kissed me and my father gave my hand a warm grip, and then they were gone!
I felt a pang of loneliness creeping over me and I desperately tried to control myself. But when I went to bed that night, I felt restless and unhappy. The next day I woke up with the same feeling clinging to me. In the morning I was fine. But when I got to work with my computer, things started working contrary to my will. My lap-top was very old and it had an irritating slowness about it. The computer just wouldn’t work properly. This made me feel cross and out of sorts. There was a lot of noise everywhere and my temper was rising by the minute. I knew that I had to find some out-let. But I could not find any. Everything was against me that day. I had not been able to learn a thing during the whole morning. When I went to the hostel for lunch I was very close to tears. I still don’t know how I kept all that torrents inside me. But I certainly know that I was moody and uncompanionable. If the morning session was bad, the afternoon was worse and the evening was the worst. By the time I got back to the hostel at night, I was disheartened and tired. I called up my mother, and when I heard her soothing, kind tones over the phone, I felt a choking sensation in my throat. For the first time in my life I was home-sick, or rather I was mother-sick. My day had been horrible and the feeling that my family was kilometres away from me made me feel desolate and lonely. I had a hard time choking the sobs while I talked to mother. I had planned to be cheery and optimistic so that my mother wouldn’t guess my feelings. But my voice sounded weary to my own ears. And mothers have a curious way of finding out what their children feel. My mother seamed to guess the struggle I had within myself and she said, “Hannah, don’t give up”. “Pray to god and he will help you out”.
After my mother had said good-bye over the phone, all the tears that I had been trying to restrain, over-flowed. I cried passionately, and then I decided to act on my mother’s advice. I took out my Bible and opened it. The first words that greeted me were, “the God of all comfort”. I couldn’t believe the miracle. The next lines proved that this was not a mere coincidence.
2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3 says,
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the Lord of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble, with the comfort we ourselves have received from God”.
After reading this verse I realised that all my sorrow had simply disappeared. “God actually spoke to me”! This was the only happy thought in my mind. I stood up and praised God for all I was worth. When I came down from my room, the heavy frown had completely left my face to be replaced with a joy and happiness that I had not felt for a long time. There were no more pangs of home-sickness because I knew that God loved me infinitely and wanted to comfort me.
All of us have gloomy and dark moments, when we feel that nobody cares the least bit about us. But there is someone who really and truly cares for each and everyone of us, and that person is God. If we would only realise, God is actually longing to comfort and love us during our troubles. He loves and cares for us all the time. But we often don’t realise this. We run behind the world and at last when we are defeated, we fall down and cry our hearts out. It is in these moments that God really speaks to us. We might not hear or see him, but he is still speaking to us. God sometimes speaks to us through people. And sometimes he speaks through the wonderful the book, The Bible. But the point is, are we ready to listen to him?
Just stop running through the blinding flashes of lightening. Just stop crying and mourning and you will hear God’s voice and you will be comforted and strengthened to go on and win your battles. Let God come into your lives and say, “my son, my daughter, I am the God of all comfort. Come to me and rest”. And let us go to him and be folded in his protecting arms. Let us enjoy his comfort and rest. And let us go forth into the world to continue the battles with renewed hope and courage and the trust that our loving father will always stay and help us even if the going is rough.